Outcomes of a physiotherapy performed trauma tertiary survey role on a dedicated trauma ward in a Level 1… | ScholarDeck

Paper

Outcomes of a physiotherapy performed trauma tertiary survey role on a dedicated trauma ward in a Level 1 trauma service.

New research · Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation

Injury · 1h

StudyInjury· Aug 2026

Outcomes of a physiotherapy performed trauma tertiary survey role on a dedicated trauma ward in a Level 1 trauma service.

Melissa Webb, Anne Holland, Michael Noonan … Lara Kimmel

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Musculoskeletal RehabilitationStudyClinical practiceQ1IF 2.3

Physiotherapist-led tertiary surveys cut median time to survey from 41 to 27 hours

Outcomes of a physiotherapy performed trauma tertiary survey role on a dedicated trauma ward in a Level 1 trauma service.

Melissa Webb … Lara Kimmel

Injury · Aug 2026

Background

The Trauma Tertiary Survey (Tertiary Survey) is considered a key strategy for identifying injuries overlooked during the initial trauma resuscitation and assessment.

Methods

A pre-post intervention study was conducted on the trauma ward of an Australian Level 1 trauma centre.

Results

physiotherapist-led surveys got completed noticeably faster after roll-out

More results

Of 1147 eligible patients during the 12 month intervention phase (vs 591 in 6 month baseline), physiotherapists performed 825 Tertiary Survey (72%).

Physiotherapists identified 120 injuries on their Tertiary Survey, predominantly musculoskeletal and soft tissue.

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Conclusion · 1 of 2

Physiotherapy performed Tertiary Survey significantly improved timeliness and efficiency of Tertiary Survey completion without compromising safety or quality.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

This shared care model supports workload demand, timely injury detection and patient care in busy trauma services.

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