Developing falls KPIs for Physiotherapy Team based on World Guidelines’ recommendations

Introduction:

There are over 80 physiotherapists at Auckland City hospital working across several in-patient areas including acute medical, surgical, stroke/ neurology, orthopaedics, and geriatric rehabilitation. The physiotherapy team plays a huge role in the assessment, treatment, and management of vulnerable fall’s risk patients. Since 2018 the physiotherapy team had not reviewed key performance indicators (KPIs) in relation to best practice in falls assessment and management. With the release of the World Guidelines⁽¹⁾ for fall prevention, it was timely and important to review our KPIs and align them with the guideline’s recommendations.

Method/ Results:

After completing a literature review and collating key recommendations for best practice (RBP) from the guidelines, a retrospective audit was undertaken in September 2024 to measure current physiotherapy practice. 20 patient records were reviewed, and data on key aspects of physiotherapy assessment and intervention were collected, e.g., obtaining falls history, assessing gait/ balance objectively, providing education. The results were insightful and showed inconsistencies in most aspects of RBP. Results were presented to the wider physiotherapy team and updated KPIs with targets were developed. Improvement activities including regular in-services/ training, relevant onboarding, and developing a special interest network group consisting of physiotherapy representatives from each clinical area were undertaken to enable the team to better achieve the KPI targets. Practice against these KPIs was re-audited in July 2025 with 40 patient records reviewed, which showed improvement.

Conclusion:

Auditing our practice and implementing RBP through KPIs has been insightful for physiotherapy staff and can be impactful in improving patient outcomes. This improvement work will continue to be embedded into our physiotherapy practice.