As part of the “Practice to Science” grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation, Professor Simone Gafner (School of Health Sciences/The Sense) has secured funding for her research project titled “Hospital Emergency Department Advanced Physiotherapy Practitioners-Implementation and Evaluation (HAPP-I).” Supported by the management of the School of Health Sciences of HES-SO Valais-Wallis, this project will be conducted in collaboration with the Hôpital du Valais, with Sarah Fournier, Chief Medical Therapist, the physiotherapists of the Centre Hospitalier du Valais Romand (CHVR), the emergency physicians, and all the medical and nursing staff of the emergency departments.
In the face of the acute shortage of healthcare personnel, which affects the quality of care, working conditions, and the well-being of staff, urgent action is needed. In this context, the HAPP-I project, conducted over three years, aims to define the roles that an advanced practice physiotherapist (APP) could assume within an emergency department by introducing them in a very systematic manner and then evaluating their impact.
Advanced practice is focused on interprofessionality (e.g., between nursing and physiotherapy), constitutes an innovative and concrete concept, and helps address the shortage of healthcare personnel.
International literature reveals the effectiveness of APPs in emergency departments by reducing waiting times and lengths of stay, providing more accurate diagnoses and triage, achieving better therapeutic outcomes, lowering healthcare costs, and increasing patient and staff satisfaction. Switzerland is just beginning to introduce APPs, although pilot projects have been conducted or are underway in some hospitals and private practices.
“The launch of the project in 2024 is a promising step for the development of physiotherapy and the quality of patient care. If the effectiveness is confirmed, it could pave the way for similar projects in other fields or contexts,” said Prof. Simone Gafner.