Do physiotherapy staff record treatment time accurately? An observational study

Objective: To assess the reliability of duration of treatment time measured by physiotherapy staff in early-stage stroke patients.Design: Comparison of physiotherapy staff’s recording of treatment sessions and video recording.Setting: Rehabilitation stroke unit in a general hospital.Subjects: Thirty-nine stroke patients without trunk control or who were unable to stand with an erect trunk without the support of two therapists recruited to a randomized trial evaluating the Oswestry Standing Frame. Twenty-six physiotherapy staff who were involved in patient treatment.Main measures: Contemporaneous recording by physiotherapy staff of treatment time (in minutes) compared with video recording.Statistical analysis: Intraclass correlation with 95% confidence interval and the Bland and Altman method for assessing agreement by calculating the mean difference (standard deviation; 95% confidence interval), reliability coefficient and 95% limits of agreement for the differences between the measurements.Results: The m...