GPs’ experience of embedded Musculoskeletal Advanced Practice Physiotherapists in Primary Care: A cross-sectional survey with content analysis

IF 2.2 3区医学 Q1 REHABILITATION

Musculoskeletal Science and Practice Pub Date : 2025-02-09 DOI:10.1016/j.msksp.2025.103285

Jordan Hepburn , Gordon Cameron , Libby Dale , Gavin Frizzell , Amegad Abdelgawad , Cathy Bulley , Kerrie Crisp

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

General Practices across Scotland have expanded their multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs) to include non-medical allied health professionals (NMAHPs) as part of the 2018 General Medical Services Contract (GMS), including musculoskeletal (MSK) Advanced Practice Physiotherapists (APPs). MDT expansion was hoped to reduce General Practitioner (GP) workloads and release their time to care for patients with complex needs. Published research concerning GPs’ experiences of these roles is conflicting on whether they perceive this to be the case.

Aim

To understand GPs’ experience of MSK APPs since their integration within MDTs.

Design and setting

Observational study of N = 22 GPs’ from a single health and social care partnership (HSCP) within an NHS Scotland Health Board.

Method

Cross-sectional survey study with conceptual analysis of open free-text responses.

Results

The majority of GPs’ agreed that MSK APPs: impacted positively on their management of clinical caseloads and diagnostic uncertainty; improved quality of care and system flow for patients with MSK conditions; had been embedded successfully with adequate implementation support, and their role was clear.

Conclusion

Findings support the argument that APPs are contributing to the achievement of GMS contract aims. Further research is required to increase the pool of available studies from which evidence-based recommendations can be made to health boards. Consistency in the design and wording of future surveys would improve the level of inference that can be drawn on GPs’ experiences of MSK APP services.

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背景苏格兰各地的全科医生已扩大其多学科团队（MDT），将非医疗专职保健专业人员（NMAHPs）纳入其中，作为 2018 年全科医疗服务合同（GMS）的一部分，包括肌肉骨骼（MSK）高级实践物理治疗师（APPs）。MDT 的扩大有望减轻全科医生（GP）的工作量，使他们有时间照顾有复杂需求的患者。目的了解全科医生在将 MSK APP 纳入 MDT 后对其的体验。设计与环境对苏格兰国家医疗服务体系卫生委员会（NHS Scotland Health Board）内一个医疗与社会护理合作机构（HSCP）的 N = 22 名全科医生进行观察研究。方法横断面调查研究，对开放式自由文本回复进行概念分析。结果大多数全科医生都认为 MSK APP：对他们管理临床病例和诊断不确定性产生了积极影响；改善了 MSK 患者的护理质量和系统流程；在充分的实施支持下已成功嵌入，而且他们的作用也很明确。需要进一步开展研究，以增加可用研究的数量，并据此向医疗委员会提出循证建议。未来调查的设计和措辞的一致性将提高全科医生对 MSK APP 服务体验的推断水平。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Musculoskeletal Science and Practice Health Professions-Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation

CiteScore

4.10

自引率

8.70%

发文量

152

审稿时长

48 days

期刊介绍： Musculoskeletal Science & Practice, international journal of musculoskeletal physiotherapy, is a peer-reviewed international journal (previously Manual Therapy), publishing high quality original research, review and Masterclass articles that contribute to improving the clinical understanding of appropriate care processes for musculoskeletal disorders. The journal publishes articles that influence or add to the body of evidence on diagnostic and therapeutic processes, patient centered care, guidelines for musculoskeletal therapeutics and theoretical models that support developments in assessment, diagnosis, clinical reasoning and interventions.