Patient Safety in Physiotherapy: Are Errors that Cause or Could Cause Harm Preventable?

The concept of patient safety is less developed in physiotherapy than in other areas of health care. Standard physiotherapy care, whether active or passive, is largely viewed as harmless as it is not associated with serious adverse events. Physiotherapists, however, are increasingly involved in the care of in-hospital patients, in particular for early rehabilitation for patients who are critically ill or have undergone complex surgery. The increased risk of serious adverse events in such settings has contributed to an increased awareness of safety in physiotherapy. Most practitioners, however, operate in non-hospital settings, where the idea that physiotherapy causes little or no harm is more deeply entrenched and does little to foster a culture of risk awareness or encourage practitioners to report or record errors. Error reporting and recording are two basic pillars of patient safety and should be extended to all health care areas. Heightened awareness and the creation of systems that encourage reporting will gradually lead to the creation of a culture of safety in physiotherapy.