Comparison of 6- and 7-day physical therapy coverage on length of stay and discharge outcome for individuals with total hip and knee arthroplasty

Providing physical therapy service on Sundays is a much debated topic among hospital administrators. The purpose of this study was to determine if 7 days per week of physical therapy coverage results in shorter lengths of stay and differing discharge states than 6 days per week. A total of 140 subjects with hip or knee arthroplasty participated; there were 80 in the 6-day groups and 60 in the 7-day groups. Data on postoperative length of stay, discharge destination, and discharge disposition were collected by retrospective medical record review. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to test for differences in length of stay data, and the chi-squared test was used to test for differences in discharge disposition and discharge destination. No significant differences in postoperative length of stay, discharge destination, nor discharge disposition existed between the 6- and 7-day physical therapy coverage hip or knee arthroplasty groups. However, the power of the statistical tests applied was low. This study provides no evidence that 7-day per week physical therapy results in shortened postoperative length of stay, differing discharge destination, nor differing discharge disposition for patients undergoing hip or knee arthroplasty.