Physiotherapy Risk Assessment

---
name: physiotherapy-risk-assessment
description: |
  Identify, score and control the risks in work for patients recovering movement, strength and function in a physiotherapy department, gym and patients' homes.
  TRIGGERS - Use when a physiotherapist needs a risk assessment for patients recovering movement, strength and function in a physiotherapy department, gym and patients' homes.
category: Physiotherapy
license: MIT
version: 1.0
---
# Risk Assessment — Physiotherapy

Identify, score and control the risks in work for patients recovering movement, strength and function in a physiotherapy department, gym and patients' homes. The deliverable is a risk assessment with likelihood/impact scores, controls and owners.
This skill is written for a physiotherapist working with patients recovering movement, strength and function in a physiotherapy department, gym and patients' homes.

## When to use
- You are a physiotherapist preparing, delivering or reviewing this part of your work in a physiotherapy department, gym and patients' homes.
- You need a defensible, repeatable approach that produces a risk assessment with likelihood/impact scores, controls and owners.
- A colleague, auditor or client asks how this was done and what evidence supports it.

## Key Concepts
| Term | Meaning |
|------|---------|
| Range of motion | how far a joint can move |
| Red flags | symptoms suggesting serious underlying conditions |
| Rehabilitation | restoring function after illness or injury |

## Workflow
1. **Step 1** - Map the activity step by step and list what could go wrong at each stage for patients recovering movement, strength and function and staff
2. **Step 2** - Score each risk for likelihood and impact, giving special weight to falls during treatment
3. **Step 3** - For every high risk, define a control that removes, reduces or contains it, using treatment plinths where relevant
4. **Step 4** - Record the assessment in assessment records, assign an owner to each control, and set a review date
5. **Step 5** - Brief everyone involved before work starts; stop and reassess if conditions in a physiotherapy department, gym and patients' homes change

## Profession-Specific Components
| Component | Details for Physiotherapy |
|-----------|-------------------------------|
| Core documentation | assessment records; treatment plans; exercise programmes; outcome measure scores |
| Core tools & equipment | treatment plinths; resistance equipment; electrotherapy units; mobility aids |
| People involved | patients recovering movement, strength and function; the physiotherapist; colleagues and other services in a physiotherapy department, gym and patients' homes |
| Primary record | assessment records — keep it current, dated and attributable |

## Output Format
**Context:** [Situation in a physiotherapy department, gym and patients' homes] | **Objective:** [What this must achieve] | **Audience:** [patients recovering movement, strength and function and other stakeholders]

The finished output is a risk assessment with likelihood/impact scores, controls and owners, structured as:
1. Summary of position and evidence
2. Detail, following the workflow above
3. Decisions, actions, owners and dates
4. Review point and escalation route

### Action Plan
1. **Immediate:** Confirm scope, consent and the evidence available in assessment records.
2. **Short-term:** Complete the workflow steps and record outcomes against functional outcome improvement.
3. **Medium-term:** Review results, close actions, and update local procedures in a physiotherapy department, gym and patients' homes.

## Success Metrics
| Metric | Target | Method |
|--------|--------|--------|
| functional outcome improvement | Agree a local target and track the trend | Measured from assessment records and reviewed on a set cycle |
| treatment waiting times | Agree a local target and track the trend | Measured from assessment records and reviewed on a set cycle |
| session attendance rate | Agree a local target and track the trend | Measured from assessment records and reviewed on a set cycle |
| patient-reported progress | Agree a local target and track the trend | Measured from assessment records and reviewed on a set cycle |

## Guardrails & Quality Checks
- Never let this happen: falls during treatment.
- Never let this happen: overloading healing tissue.
- Never let this happen: missed red-flag symptoms.
- Work only within the competence and authority of a physiotherapist; escalate or refer anything beyond it.
- Record facts and observations, not speculation, and keep records confidential to a physiotherapy department, gym and patients' homes's rules.
- Verify names, dates, figures and measurements twice before anything is issued or signed off.
- Use only real, verified information from the case in hand — never invent results, credentials or evidence.

## Example (illustrative)
A physiotherapist in a physiotherapy department, gym and patients' homes applies this workflow for patients recovering movement, strength and function: they open
assessment records, work through the five steps using treatment plinths, and close by recording
the outcome against functional outcome improvement and agreeing the next review date. (Illustrative example only —
replace with the real details of the case in hand.)