1. Goal setting in Clinical Practice: A
physiotherapy perspective
Applied Physiotherapy 203
March 2012

2. Individual activity
Think about your life as it is right now. For once
you are allowed to be ambitious. Now write
down two particular things, either personal or
professional you would like to achieve,
experience or have one day.

3. Some people’s idea of a goal....

4. Is this a realistic goal?

5. Using the SMART principle for setting
goals
• Utilised within the business world for reaching
target (and taking over the world)
• The medical world has adopted this principle
effectively
• It’s valid within a variety of contexts (not just
business and medical world, but also to your
own life)

6. Acronym S.M.A.R.T
• Specific (Significant, stretching or simple)

7. Measurable
Could also be
meaningful,
motivational and
manageable

8. Agreed action plan to achieve goals
• Agreed plan: should be clear and within the
scope of the profession / attainable goals
Could also be
appropriate,
attainable and
achieveable

9. Relevant
You also wouldn’t agree that a
90 year old patient with arthritis
to run 4 laps around a 400m
track

10. Time-bound
• Time-oriented, time-specific

11. Activity
Review your two goals that you have set in the
beginning of the lecture and assess it against
the SMART principle.
• Identify the limitations and share it with your
group

12. How to apply this principle
You were asked by the ward physiotherapist to
treat a patient presenting with +++ secretions
in the lower lobes
Objective: Optimise lung function by removing
secretions from the lower lobes
S: Remove secretions from the lower lobes
M: Auscultation to assess and re-assess
A: Alternative side lying, percussions, shakings,
vibrations, ACBT etc

13. Case study cont.
• R (relevance): Improve lung volumes and
reduce lung collapse
• T: treatment twice a day for three days
(depending on the recovery and removal of all
secretions)

14. Application of SMART goals in long
term patients
Your patients had been in hospital with HIV/Aids
and TB. For the last three week she did not
mobilise due to extreme fatigue and shortness
of breath
Setting objectives
• Define short and long term goals
• Identify short and long term goals
• Use SMART principle for both short and long
term goals

15. Example of short term goal
• Relieve breathlessness

16. Example of long term goal
• Improve endurance and mobilise for longer
distances

17. Q&A