NZ Physio Registration flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Health and Disability Commissioner Code

A set of ten patient rights under the Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994, including respect, fair treatment, dignity, appropriate standards, communication, informed choice, and the right to complain.

Informed consent elements

Valid consent requires the patient to have capacity, receive adequate information about the nature, risks, benefits, and alternatives of treatment, and give it freely without coercion.

Practising certificate requirement

Under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, a physiotherapist must hold a current annual practising certificate issued by the Physiotherapy Board to practise in New Zealand.

Tino rangatiratanga

The Te Tiriti o Waitangi principle of Māori self-determination and control over taonga, including health services and Māori models of care, which practitioners must actively respect and support.

Cultural safety definition

A practice where the clinician reflects on their own culture, power, and biases, and the recipient of care determines whether the care received is culturally safe.

Te Whare Tapa Whā

Mason Durie's Māori health model representing four walls of wellbeing: taha tinana, taha hināngaro, taha whānau, and taha wairua, with whenua as the foundation.

Teach-back method

A health literacy technique where the patient explains the information back in their own words, allowing the clinician to confirm understanding and correct misunderstanding.

Spinal red flags

Warning signs suggesting serious pathology, including age over 50 with new pain, unexplained weight loss, night pain unrelieved by rest, fever, cancer history, or bowel and bladder dysfunction.

Likelihood ratio positive

Calculated as sensitivity divided by one minus specificity; values above 10 substantially increase the post-test probability of the condition being present.

Ottawa Ankle Rules

Ankle X-ray is indicated with malleolar pain plus bone tenderness at the posterior malleolar edge or tip, or inability to bear weight four steps immediately and in clinic.

Lachman test

An anterior cruciate ligament test performed at approximately 20–30 degrees of knee flexion, assessing anterior tibial translation and endpoint; it is the most sensitive acute ACL test.

Tendinopathy loading principle

Progressive high-load resistance exercise performed three to four times weekly for at least six to twelve weeks, allowing pain up to 3/10 that settles within 24 hours.

ASIA impairment scale

Grades spinal cord injury from A (complete) through B (sensory incomplete), C and D (motor incomplete by muscle grade proportion), to E (normal sensory and motor function).

Modified Ashworth Scale

A six-point ordinal scale (0, 1, 1+, 2, 3, 4) grading resistance to passive movement, used to quantify spasticity in neurological conditions.

Uhthoff phenomenon

A transient worsening of neurological symptoms, particularly visual and motor, in multiple sclerosis when core body temperature rises with heat or exertion.

Epley manoeuvre

A canalith repositioning sequence for posterior canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, involving sequential head and body rotations to move otoconia out of the canal.

Active cycle of breathing

An airway clearance technique combining breathing control, thoracic expansion exercises, and forced expiratory technique (huff), used to mobilise and clear secretions.

Pursed-lip breathing

A breathing technique that prolongs expiration against slight resistance, reducing dynamic hyperinflation and dyspnoea in people with obstructive lung disease.

Hypercapnic oxygen target

For patients at risk of hypercapnic respiratory failure, such as some with COPD, supplemental oxygen is titrated to a target saturation range of 88 to 92 percent.

Six-minute walk test MCID

The minimal clinically important difference for the six-minute walk test in chronic lung disease is approximately 30 metres, indicating a meaningful change in functional exercise capacity.

International Classification of Functioning

The WHO framework describing health through body functions and structures, activities, participation, and contextual environmental and personal factors, guiding rehabilitation assessment and goal setting.

Fried frailty phenotype

Frailty identified by three or more of unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, low activity, slow gait, and weakness; one or two criteria indicate pre-frailty.

Early Supported Discharge

A coordinated multidisciplinary rehabilitation model allowing selected stroke patients to go home earlier with intensive community therapy, producing equivalent or better outcomes than inpatient care.

Number needed to treat

The reciprocal of the absolute risk reduction; it estimates how many patients must receive an intervention for one additional patient to benefit.

PICO question format

A structured clinical question specifying Population, Intervention, Comparator, and Outcome, used to build an effective literature search and appraisal strategy.

PDSA cycle

Plan-Do-Study-Act, an iterative quality improvement method for testing small changes, measuring results, and refining before wider implementation.

Pae Ora legislation

The Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022 established Te Whatu Ora, Te Aka Whai Ora, the Public Health Agency, and a strengthened focus on equity across the New Zealand health system.

ISBAR handover

A structured communication tool: Identify, Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation, used for safe clinical handover and escalation between interprofessional team members.

ACC treatment injury

A claim under the Accident Compensation Act 2001 for an injury caused by treatment rather than the underlying condition, excluding ordinary consequences and failures to obtain consent alone.

WHO five moments

Hand hygiene indications: before touching a patient, before a clean procedure, after body fluid exposure risk, after touching a patient, and after touching patient surroundings.

Airborne precautions

Measures for pathogens spread by aerosols, such as tuberculosis and measles, requiring a negative-pressure room, P2/N95 respirator, and restricted susceptible contacts.

Adrenaline for anaphylaxis

Adult dose of 0.5 mg intramuscular adrenaline (1:1000) into the anterolateral thigh, repeated after five minutes if needed, alongside calling emergency services.