N. Milne1, V. Co1, A. Pyke1, M.D. Tsiros2
1Bond University, Physiotherapy Department, Gold Coast, Australia, 2University of South Australia, Allied Health and Human Performance, Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity, Adelaide, Australia
Background: There is no published literature to indicate the ages, health conditions or disability diagnoses of children presenting to physiotherapists in private practice in Australia and there is no reported evidence describing the needs of children and their families who are presenting to physiotherapy private practice settings for care. Understanding client characteristics is of fundamental interest to the higher education sector who are preparing physiotherapy students for entry-level practice and to registered physiotherapists who are planning their professional development.
Purpose: The aim of this study was to answer the following questions: 1) Do Australian physiotherapy private practitioners assess, manage and treat paediatric clients, and if so, at what frequency and for what conditions? A secondary research question for this study was: Do private practitioners understand the terms family-centred practice to the same extent as patient-centred practice?
Methods: A cross-sectional survey of registered Australian physiotherapists working in private practice was undertaken in October 2018 – January 2019. All private practitioners were eligible (i.e. not only paediatric specific physiotherapists). An online questionnaire was utilised for data collection and included closed and open-ended questions regarding paediatric client caseloads and understandings of patient and family-centred practice.
Results: One hundred and twenty-five Australian registered physiotherapists responded to the online questionnaire. From the 125 respondents, 117 participants completed the full survey (93.6%). 100% of participants (paediatric and non-paediatric specific physiotherapists) reported paediatric clients as part of their private practice caseloads, with 44.8% treating paediatric clients on a daily basis. The top three most common paediatric client age ranges being managed by non-paediatric specific physiotherapists were 11-14 year old’s (95.3%), 15-17 year old’s (94.1%) and 18-19 year old’s (82.4%). The top three most common paediatric client presentations being treated by non-paediatric specific physiotherapists were sport and/or overuse injuries (88.2%), growth-related injuries (54.1%) and scoliosis (52.9%).
Conclusion(s): Paediatric physiotherapy forms part of private practitioners’ scope of practice and therefore should be considered an integral part of entry-level training programs. However, after graduating from an entry-level program, the onus is on the new graduate to be a reflective and self-directed learner and to recognise when a client’s presentation is outside of their scope or when further upskilling is required. Physiotherapists should be mindful of undertaking sufficient professional development in paediatrics to appropriately support their scope of practice.
Implications: The results from this study provide the first published insight into the current landscape of paediatric client presentations to Australian physiotherapy private practitioners. The findings of this study could be used by program accreditation bodies, such as the Australian Physiotherapy Council, to support the development of minimum standards for paediatric curriculum requirements to be an accredited program within Australia. It is also relevant to professional bodies that provide professional development to physiotherapists.
Funding, acknowledgements: No funding was obtained to support this research.
Keywords: Physiotherapy, Paediatric, Private Practice
Topic: Paediatrics
Did this work require ethics approval? Yes
Institution: Bond University
Committee: Bond University Human Research Ethics Committee
Ethics number: APO2738
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
