The history of asking these questions and decisions made following a consensus meeting of a wide range of therapists held at the RCP.
Who is applicable for therapy?
If a patient is assessed and requires further therapy at any point during their total stay under the care of your team, then the patient should be recorded as applicable for therapy, regardless of how much therapy the patient requires or receives.
What therapy should be included and not included on SSNAP when measuring the amount of therapy provided?
Therapy for the purpose of recording on SSNAP includes:
- initial therapy assessments if the patient required subsequent therapy provision
- either individual or group therapy
- home visits where the patient is present
- training patients and carers
- speech and language therapy refers to communication therapy and swallowing therapy.
In this definition therapy does not include:
- initial therapy assessments if the patient did not require subsequent therapy provision
- time for the therapist to travel to and from the patient
- documentation
- environmental visits
- multidisciplinary team meetings
- case conferences
- case reviews
Which individuals are included within the measure who provide therapy to stroke patients?
Therapy provided by qualified or non-registered therapy assistants, including rehabilitation assistants, under supervision* is included in the measure. For speech and language therapy it includes dysphagia and communication therapy. For psychologists it includes activities including assessment and treatment of mood, higher cognitive function and non-cognitive behavioral problems.
*Supervised therapy is therapy that has been directed and agreed by the qualified therapist. The qualified therapist does not need to be present for the therapy.
Is the total number of therapy minutes that a patient received during their stay the amount of therapy they received while in the care of my team or across their stroke pathway?
The stay refers to the team answering the question on the audit. You should enter the total amount of therapy they received while in your care. The unit of measurement is minutes. The number of minutes must be a whole number. Teams will have their scores relayed in both patient-centred and team-centred measures. Whilst patient –centred scores attribute the results to every team that has treated the patient, team-centred scores attribute the results to the team most appropriate to assign the responsibility to.
What happens if two therapists are treating a patient at the same time?
If two therapists of the same profession treat a patient at the same time, record the number of therapy minutes provided as the duration of the session e.g. 2 physiotherapists treating a patient for 45 minutes counts as 45 minutes of physiotherapy
- If two therapists of different professions treat a patient at the same time, record the total number of minutes for each therapy e.g. a physiotherapist and occupational therapist treating a patient for 45 minutes counts as 45 minutes of physiotherapy and 45 minutes of occupational therapy
- If one therapy assistant works on two different therapies during a 45 minutes session, record 45 minutes for only one profession or the times can be split (e.g. 25 minutes for one, 20 minutes for the other).