Physical Therapy Nontreatment Events with Primary Physical Therapist

Background: Physical therapy improves prognosis reduces stay and is generally helpful in aiding recovery from a wide range of ailments. Nontreatment rates occur for multiple reasons and are also related to the personalities of physical therapists. Methods: We used data from a research project involving physical therapy at an acute care facility in our community. Our study focused on the retrospectively determined primary physical therapist for each patient. We used the chi-squared tests to compare nontreatment rates between days of the week and disease type and the reasons for nontreatment events. Repeated-measure models were used to evaluate the effect of personality on the occurrence of nontreatment events after controlling for other covariates. These were run for every personality trait. Results: Personality was found to have a statistically significant relationship with nontreatment events. Openness was a significant predictor for nontreatment with the p-value of 0.045 and a slope of B= -0.0694 according to the repeated measurement model. An analysis of nontreatment by day of the week showed a nontreatment ranging from 15.8 and 9.7 with (p-value=.544). The nontreatment rate by diagnosis ranged from 21.2% to 7.1% (p-value Conclusions: Therapist personality (openness) has a statistically significant relationship with nontreatment. Though our research evaluated personalities relationship with treatment rates, its effect on quality of care could be better understood. More research should be conducted on various aspects of personality and the therapist’s patient alliance