Physical therapy in avoidable hospitalizations for primary care-sensitive conditions

Abstract

Avoidable hospitalizations for primary care-sensitive conditions have been used as indicators of access to timely and appropriate care because hospital admissions for many conditions could be prevented by interventions in primary care. Physical therapists play an important role in health promotion, disease prevention, and the pursuit of fairness and improvements in the effectiveness of health care services, which are the goals of the public policies proposed by the Brazilian unified health care system. We used MEDLINE and SciELO to search the literature for articles concerning the association between physical therapy and the reduction of avoidable hospitalizations for primary care-sensitive conditions. The literature on the topic is still in its infancy and confined to relatively few studies. Although the available literature associates access to quality primary care with reduced hospitalizations for primary care-sensitive conditions, there is a need for original studies investigating whether there is an association between physical therapy and decreased hospital admissions for primary care-sensitive conditions.