Multiple Sclerosis

The Multiple Sclerosis Task Force, led by Kirsten Potter, PT, DPT, MS, NCS, began its work in fall of 2010. The committee's recommendations on the use of measures for individuals with MS at CSM 2012. A total of 63 measures were reviewed and recommendations for the use of each in clinical practice, entry-level education, and research have been provided.

 The Board of Directors wishes to thank the members of the committee members for their significant and superlative work to sort through the outcomes literature and initiate a process of recommendations that carefully weighs psychometrics and clinical utility. The Task Force Members include:

Kirsten Potter, PT, DPT, MS, NCS, Chair
Diane Allen, PT, PhD
Amy M Yorke, PT, MPT, NCS
Gail Widener, PT, PhD
Susan Bennett, PT, DPT, EdD, NCS, MSCS
Evan Cohen, PT, MA, PhD, NCS
Kathleen Brandfass, MS, PT

recommendations

The recommendations are available as a pdf file.  You can also download one page summary that highlight the recommended outcome measures for entry level physical therapy students and by setting and disease severity. A compendium of instructions on how the administer the outcome measures can also be downloaded.

Specific recommendations were developed for the following practice environments:

Entry-level Education
Research
Acute Care Setting
Inpatient and Outpatient Rehabilitation

Recommendations are based on the following 4 point ordinal scale:

4= highly recommended; the outcome measure has excellent psychometric properties and clinical utility
3= recommended; the outcome measure has good psychometric properties and good clinical utility
2= unable to recommend at this time; there is insufficient information to support a recommendation of this outcome measure
1= not recommended; the outcome measure has poor psychometric properties and/or poor clinical utility

Recommendations for use of each outcome measure reviewed are categorized by practice settings (acute care hospital, in-patient rehabilitation, home health, skilled nursing facility, and out-patient rehabilitation center) and acuity level.

Recommendations for each outcome measure are also offered related to entry level PT education. Measures are characterized as those that students should learn to administer, should be exposed to, or are not recommended. Finally, measures are categorized as being appropriate for research purposes on a yes/no basis.