Methodologies to measure access to care post-discharge in adults with serious injury-related disability: a scoping review

Abstract

Purpose

This scoping review examined the methodologies used to measure access to care in serious injury-related disability populations, for whom access to care post-discharge has significant implications for patient outcomes and rehabilitation trajectories.

Methods

Four electronic databases were searched for literature published between 1 January 2000 and 15 February 2022. Relevant articles needed to relate to access to care in adult community-dwelling trauma and rehabilitation populations.

Results

The initial search identified 679 articles. Following de-duplication, the title/abstract screening was completed on 533 articles, and 56 full-text articles were reviewed. Thirty-eight articles met the eligibility criteria and were included in this review. Of the 38 studies included, there was large heterogeneity in the methodologies used to measure access to care. Two articles used multidimensional measures of access to care.

Conclusions

There is an urgent need to establish the use of multidimensional measures as standard practice in access-to-care research. Failure to account for the multidimensional nature of access to care limits the full realisation of access for people with serious injury-related disability and prevents the implementation of processes that could improve access to health, rehabilitation, and support services and enhance the quality of care for individuals with a serious injury-related disability.

IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION

• A consistently comprehensive approach to rehabilitation research will provide clearer insight into users’ experiences and how to optimise their engagement with services.

• Multidimensional measures of access to care need to be developed, validated, and used to capture the complexity of access to rehabilitation care and what is important to users.

• More comprehensive evidence can strengthen consensus on the gold standard of what must be included in the measurement of access to rehabilitation care, to improve service reach and relevance.

Keywords:

• Service use
• access
• injury
• rehabilitation
• disability

Acknowledgements

The research team would like to acknowledge Prof Michele Foster (MF) and Dr David Borg (DB) for their contribution to the conceptualization, design, review of the literature, and assistance with various aspects of this scoping review.

Author contributions

The authors confirm contribution on the article as follows: concept and design of search strategy LB, RJ, SB & TG; article access, screening & review LB, DB, SB & JO’L; drafting manuscript LB, RJ, SB & TG; revising manuscript LB, RJ, TG, SB & JO’L; approval of the manuscript for publication LB, RJ, SB, TG & JO’L.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This scoping review is part of a larger research program, supported by the 2019 Metro South Health (MSH) Research Support Scheme (RSS), and the SERTA Program Grant.