Journal Article

Operationalisation of health equity principles in physiotherapy hospital triage policies

Glenn, Nick, Braithwaite, Jeffrey, Pagano, Lisa, Hutchinson, Karen, Sarkies, Mitchell N., Long, Janet C.

2024

Overview

Background Healthcare triage policies are vital for allocating limited resources fairly and equitably. Despite extensive studies of healthcare equity, consensus on the applied definition of equity in triage remains elusive. This study aimed to investigate how the principles of equity are operationalised in Australian hospital physiotherapy triage tools to guide resource distribution. Methods A retrospective, qualitative content analysis of 13 triage policies from 10 hospitals across Australia was conducted. Triage policies from both inpatient and outpatient settings were sourced. Data were coded deductively using the five discrete domains of the multi-faceted operational definition of health equity posited by Lane et al. (2017): 1) point of equalisation in the health service supply/access/outcome chain, 2) need or potential to benefit, 3) groupings of equalisation, 4) caveats to equalisation, 5) close enough is good enough. Descriptive summative statistics were used to analyse and present the frequency of reported equity domains. Results Within the included triage tools, four out of five domains of equity were evident in the included documents to guide decision making. Allocation based on perceived patient need and overall health outcomes were the central guiding principles across both inpatient and outpatient settings. Equal provision of service relative to patient need and reducing wait times were also prioritised. However, explicit inclusion of certain equity domains such as discrimination, ensuring equal capability to be healthy and other patient factors was limited. Conclusions Physiotherapy triage policies consider various domains of equity to guide resource allocation decisions. Policymakers and service providers can use the insights gained from this study to review the application and operationalisation of equity principles within their healthcare systems through mechanisms such as patient triage tools.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Allied health / Analysis / Australia / Content analysis / Critical care / Critical care medicine / Data analysis / Decision making / Discrimination / Equality / Equality and Human Rights / Equalization / Health aspects / Health care / Health care industry / Health care policy / Health Care Rationing / Health disparities / Health Equity / Health Policy / Health Promotion and Disease Prevention / Health services / Health Services Research / Health status / Hospitals / Hospitals - standards / Humans / Inpatient care / Medical decision making / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Methods / Patient outcomes / Patients / Physical therapy / Physical Therapy Modalities - standards / Physiotherapy / Policy making / Prioritisation / Public Health / Qualitative analysis / Qualitative Research / Resource Allocation / Retrospective Studies / Social Justice / Social Policy / Statistical analysis / Statistics / Therapeutics, Physiological / Triage / Triage (Medicine) / Waiting times