Each day, 10,000 Canadians seek health care due to an injury, and 93 per cent of them are treated in the emergency room (ER). Musculoskeletal (MSK) injuries, those that affect body movements and/or the musculoskeletal system, are a leading cause of ER visits. Yet they are ranked low on the triage scale, resulting in increasingly long wait times for patients.
Emma Pearson, a Western student, wrote a blog discussing the benefits of incorporating specialized health professionals, like physiotherapists, in the ER. She explained that early intervention for MSK injuries would improve the efficiency and effectiveness of patient diagnosis, lead to proper treatment, and lower wait times for patients in the ER.
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“MSK injuries can be difficult to deal with in an ER setting due to the many demands physicians face in the ER. Hiring physiotherapists to work in the ER could help free up time for physicians as well as decrease patient wait times,” she said. “Of all injured Canadians over the age of 11 requiring medical attention (i.e., for activity-limiting injuries), 73.6 per cent are within a physiotherapist’s scope of practice. Physiotherapists have specialized education to both assess and treat various mobility issues, and their involvement in the creation of a treatment plan can aid in safe discharge.”
