Standards for wheelchair prescription

✍ Scribed by Allie Di Marco; Mary Russell; Margot Masters

• Book ID: 104469477
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 190 KB
• Volume: 50
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0045-0766
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1440-1630.2003.00316.x

✦ Synopsis

Wheelchair prescription for individuals with a spinal cord injury is a highly complex and challenging clinical intervention. Evidence exists that successful outcomes are not always achieved for the wheelchair user and that therapists are experiencing increasing pressure to be accountable for and to justify their wheelchair prescription practice. This paper describes the process of establishing an evaluation of wheelchair prescription practices by occupational therapists in a spinal injury rehabilitation unit in South Australia. The evaluation process centred on the development of standards of practice to monitor performance and led to improvements in: (i) service delivery practices; (ii) wheelchair user participation; and (iii) accountability and justification of service delivery. Steps taken to develop the standards of practice to monitor performance and the benefits and limitations of the evaluation are described.