Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Context: The addition of physiotherapists to the emergency department (ED) is an initiative aimed at optimizing patient care. This care model has several benefits, such as increasing patient satisfaction towards care received. However, no study has examined its impact on patients' health-related quality of life. Objective: To compare the 3-month change in health-related quality of life of people presenting to the ED with a minor musculoskeletal disorder (e.g., neck pain, back pain) and managed according to two different care models. Study Design: Evaluation of health-related quality of life data collected within a randomized clinical trial. Setting: ED of the CHU de Québec-Université Laval (Quebec, Canada). Population: People aged 18 to 80 presenting to the ED with a minor musculoskeletal disorder (56). Intervention: Management by a physiotherapist and an emergency physician, or management by an emergency physician according to usual care. Measurements: Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Participants' health-related quality of life was measured at the initial ED visit and at 1 and 3 months using a questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L). Responses to the questionnaires were transformed using the Canadian conversion algorithm to obtain QALYs. Differences between scores were compared using the EQ-5D-5L minimum significant difference (0.074). Results: The utility scores of both groups were almost identical at the time of the emergency visit. At 3 months, utility scores were higher in the group managed by the physiotherapist and emergency physician, but the difference was not significant. Participants managed by a physiotherapist and an emergency physician showed a gain of 0.069 QALYs at 3 months, compared with 0.062 for those managed in the usual way (mean difference: 0.017). Conclusion: Care by a physiotherapist and an emergency physician in the ED achieves a level of health-related quality of life at least as high as that of the usual care by an emergency physician.