Clinical audit on outcome measures used in examination of knee osteoarthritis in selected hospitals and clinics in the Philippines

Abstract

Background: Knee osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease affecting the aging Filipino population. Outcome measure tools are used to assess a patient’s health status for the quality of care improvement. With the increasing prevalence of knee osteoarthritis, it warrants the need to conduct a clinical audit to identify the most common outcome measure tools used by Filipino Physical Therapists. Objectives: To determine the outcome measure tools used by Filipino Physical Therapists in assessing knee osteoarthritis in hospitals and clinics and compare it to the current global standard of assessment. Methods: A retrospective record audit study design was used to determine the current assessment tool compared with standards of assessment. Results: Of the 45 of 285 charts reviewed, 80% were females and 73.33%, aged older than 60 years. The following were examination tools used by Physical Therapists: In Subjective; a. pain score (97.77%), b Functional status (80%), and c. stiffness ( 4.44%). In Objective; a. ocular inspection and palpation(97.77% ), b. range of motion and manual muscle testing (93.33%), c. posture ( 48.89%), d. special tests (33.33%), e. gait analysis ( 71.11%), and f. Functional assessment ( 91.11%). Physical Therapists did not use Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis (WOMAC), Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Short Form-36 (SF-36), and Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score ( KOOS) outcome measures for assessing knee osteoarthritis. Conclusion: Physical Therapists did not use standardized outcome measure tools in the assessment for knee osteoarthritis. Thus, the study shows the gap in the assessment for knee osteoarthritis in the Philippines and global standards.