The experience of physiotherapy extended scope practitioners in orthopaedic outpatient clinics

Objectives: Over the last decade there has been an increase in the number of physiotherapists working with an extended scope of practice in the orthopaedic outpatient clinic. There has been a growing feeling within the profession and the literature that these posts are more difficult than first perceived. The purpose of this qualitative study was to look at physiotherapists working in this setting and discover what has been their experience of the role and what recommendations they would make for future practitioners.
Design: Qualitative, case study approach.
Setting: Scottish National Health Service.
Participants: Four physiotherapists working as extended scope practitioners.
Measures: Data was collected using tape-recorded semi-structured interviews and investigated five main areas: training, responsibilities, support, satisfaction and recommendations.
Results: The results suggested that success and satisfaction in post is dependent on the relationship with the consultant and the medical team; most extended scope practitioners experienced similar difficulties and had the same outstanding training needs.
Conclusions: The overall impression from the findings was that although the job can be stressful it is also very satisfying. By ensuring a good relationship with the medical team, providing adequate ongoing training and support, many of the difficulties encountered by the participants could be minimised.