Continuity of Care

Continuity of care refers to the consistent and coordinated delivery of healthcare services over time and across different levels or settings of care, ensuring that patients receive appropriate, uninterrupted care that meets their needs.

Emergency Department

Also known as emergency room/unit or accident and emergency department, which provides urgent medical care for the public, especially patients with immediate medical needs. These departments are designed to handle a wide range of acute conditions and emergencies requiring rapid assessment and treatment. 

First Contact Physiotherapy Services

First Contact Physiotherapy Services provides the first point of contact services for patients with musculoskeletal conditions within a healthcare system, such as primary care and emergency departments. These services provide timely assessment, immediate management, advice, and onward referral where necessary

Healthcare Delivery

Described as the way inputs such as human resources, equipment, space, and funding are combined to allow healthcare actions such as case management including intervention, referral/counter-referral, mode of accessing and delivering care for the desired outcome such as continuity of care

Implementation

The term implementation is described as putting an evidence-based practice or intervention into use

Implementation Science

This is defined as “the scientific study of methods to promote the systematic uptake of research findings and other evidence-based practices into routine practice, and, hence, to improve the quality and effectiveness of health services

Musculoskeletal Conditions

Diseases of the connective tissues including bones, muscles, and their associated tissues such as tendons and ligaments, e.g., spinal pain, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, fracture and so on.

Musculoskeletal Patients

Individuals seeking healthcare due to musculoskeletal conditions

Public Health Emergency

An extraordinary event which constitutes public health risk to other states through the national or international spread of disease

Primary Care

The first point of entry in the public healthcare system specifically, the general practice. Primary care services are key in health systems for supporting first-contact, accessible, continued and coordinated patient-focused care

Rapid Adaptation

Rapid adaptation in times of public health emergency has been described as the situation where healthcare services rapidly implement and undergo changes in their delivery of healthcare to ensure that available resources provide the maximum benefit for populations, mitigating the risk of outright system failure. Drawing on evidence from physiotherapy services in the UK and Australia, rapid adaptation of healthcare services during public health emergencies is now further described with reference to both time and speed, refers to changes implemented within the first three months, providing metrics for the pace of implementation.

Sustainability

Sustainability is the extent to which healthcare services can continue with their activities into the future.

Telehealth

Telehealth is defined as the delivery and facilitation of health and health-related services where patients and providers are separated by distance, including medical care, provider and patient education, health information services, and self-care via telecommunications and digital communication technologies.