Using the ICF as a framework for clinical decision making in pediatric physical therapy

Abstract

The conceptual frameworks of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and the recently published International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health – Children and Youth (ICF-CY) provide pediatric physical therapists with an effective way to document and evaluate the assumptions inherent in their clinical decision making. This paper discusses some of the clinical assumptions made in pediatric physical therapy and provides examples of how to identify and to document these assumptions using the ICF framework. These clinical assumptions may be valid, and the ICF provides a mechanism to make them more transparent and to systematically evaluate them. Other uses of the ICF discussed in the literature are also presented. Perceived barriers to clinical implementation of the ICF and future uses of the ICF framework in clinical practice are also discussed.

• Clinical decision making
• ICF
• ICF-CY
• physical therapy