Development of the audit tool for best practice

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The Agency for Clinical Innovation published the Principles to Support Rehabilitation Care in 2019, replacing the NSW Rehabilitation Model of Care, published in 2015.

When used together, the Principles and audit tool enable the delivery of evidence-based, best-practice rehabilitation in generalist and specialist multidisciplinary rehabilitation services.

Methodology

The tool is based on:

  • the expert opinion of a working group
  • a review of key evidence
  • a review of existing models of care
  • consultation with clinicians and consumers.

A rapid review was conducted of the peer-reviewed and grey literature to identify existing frameworks, standards or principles for quality improvement in rehabilitation services.

A PubMed search on 30 August 2023 used the following search string:

("rehab*"[Title] AND ("framework*"[Title] OR "standard*"[Title] OR "accreditation"[Title] OR "principle*"[Title]) AND ("service*"[Title/Abstract] OR "organisation"[Title/Abstract] OR "organization"[Title/Abstract] OR "system"[Title/Abstract]) AND "humans"[MeSH Terms] AND "english"[Language]) AND (2013:2023[pdat])

Grey literature was identified using Google and Google Scholar with the following search terms:

  • rehabilitation service framework
  • rehabilitation service standard
  • rehabilitation service accreditation
  • rehabilitation principles.

The searches included articles published in English since 2013. These articles assessed the intervention of organisation or system level services frameworks, standards, accreditation, and principles. The search excluded articles in languages other than English before 2013 or if they referred to cardiac or pulmonary rehabilitation.

Resources used to inform this tool

  1. Report: Principles to Support Rehabilitation Care (2019)
    Source: Agency for Clinical Innovation
  2. NSW Rehabilitation Model of Care (2015)
    Source: Agency for Clinical Innovation.  Please note this has been superseded by the Principles.
  3. Understanding Brain Injury Specialist Rehabilitation in NSW (2019)
    Source: Agency for Clinical Innovation
  4. Model of Care NSW Statewide Burn Injury Service (2011)
    Source: NSW Statewide Burn Injury Service
  5. Evidence and utilisation of spinal cord injury services in NSW (2020)
    Source: Agency for Clinical Innovation
  6. NSW Paediatric Rehabilitation Service Model of Care (2019)
    Source: NSW Paediatric Rehabilitation Services
  7. Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities: 2019 Medical Rehabilitation Standards Manual
    Source: Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities
  8. Royal Australasian College of Physicians & Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine: Standards for the provision of inpatient adult rehabilitation medicine services in public and private hospitals (2019)
    Source: Royal Australasian College of Physicians & Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine (login required)

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the following individuals and groups.

  • icare NSW
  • Professor Julie Pryor, Director, Research and Innovation, Royal Rehab, Sydney, and Clinical Associate Professor, University of Sydney
  • Sandra Lever, Rehabilitation Clinical Nurse Consultant; Graythwaite Rehabilitation Centre, Sydney
  • 50 clinicians and managers from Wagga Wagga Base Hospital Rehabilitation Service and St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney who took part in pilots of the draft resource.
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