Abstract
BackgroundAllied Health Professionals today are required, more than ever before, to demonstrate their impact. However, despite at least 20 years of expectation, many services fail to deliver routine outcome measurement in practice. This systematic review investigates what helps and hinders routine outcome measurement of allied health professionals practice.MethodsA systematic review protocol was developed comprising: a defined search strategy for PsycINFO, MEDLINE and CINHAL databases and inclusion criteria and systematic procedures for data extraction and quality appraisal. Studies were included if they were published in English and investigated facilitators and/or barriers to routine outcome measurement by allied health professionals. No restrictions were placed on publication type, design, country, or year of publication. Reference lists of included publications were searched to identify additional papers. Descriptive methods were used to synthesise the findings.Results960 papers were retrieved; 15 met the inclusion criteria. Professional groups represented were Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech and Language Therapy. The included literature varied in quality and design. Facilitators and barriers to routine outcome measurement exist at individual, managerial and organisational levels. Key factors affecting professionals’ use of routine outcome measurement include: professionals’ level of knowledge and confidence about using outcome measures, and the degree of organisational and peer-support professionals received with a view to promoting their work in practice.ConclusionsWhilst the importance of routinely measuring outcomes within the allied health professions is well recognised, it has largely failed to be delivered in practice. Factors that influence clinicians’ ability and desire to undertake routine outcome measurement are bi-directional: they can act as either facilitators or barriers. Routine outcome measurement may only be deliverable if appropriate action is taken at individual therapist, team, and organisational levels of an organisation.
Highlights
Allied Health Professionals today are required, more than ever before, to demonstrate their impact
Despite continued professional appeals [5,6] this standard has remained largely aspirational with little evidence of routine outcome measurement in allied health professional practice, and continued evidence of ambivalence towards outcome measurement by staff [7,8,9,10,11]
This review aimed to address the question: what are the barriers and facilitators to routine outcome measurement by allied health professionals in practice? Few studies define what they mean by routine outcome measurement in practice
Summary
Allied Health Professionals today are required, more than ever before, to demonstrate their impact. Despite continued professional appeals [5,6] this standard has remained largely aspirational with little evidence of routine outcome measurement in allied health professional practice, and continued evidence of ambivalence towards outcome measurement by staff [7,8,9,10,11]. Whilst this position has never been professionally justifiable, it existed and was, arguably, tolerated in a period of economic growth and clinical service expansion in the NHS (UK) and beyond. Routine outcome measurement is essential, as it is through such measurement that service impact can be evidenced
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