Pysiotherapy education in Austria - current state-of-the art in the field of neurology

BACKGROUND: Recently, the Austrian professional association of physiotherapists has published a position statement on entry-level competencies assigned to various roles of physiotherapists. The role of a “physiotherapy expert” is mainly characterised by competencies concerning the clinical reasoning process around individual patients. Our network (Öesterreichisches Hochschulnetzwerk Physiotherapie in der Neurologie ÖHPN) specified these competencies for neurological physiotherapy education. However, specific learning content to achieve these competencies, e.g. regarding particular medical diagnoses has not been developed yet. Furthermore, although crucial for enhancing the competency of establishing diagnoses and evaluating therapy effects, particular standardised assessments already taught on a regular basis remain so far unknown. Therefore, the aim of this project is to present the current situation of neurological physiotherapy education in Austria.

METHODS: Based on current curricula, lecturers of participating universities of applied sciences will assign medical diagnoses as defined by the Tenth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), to be applied to physiotherapy classes, according to the categories “mandatory”, “possible” or “not taught”. Additionally, adapting a method used by Potter and colleagues in 2014, taught standardised assessments will be classified as either “students are exposed to” or “students know how to administer”. Based on the results, consensus will be sought among lecturers on future content in neurological physiotherapy education.

RESULTS: Results from the classification process performed by experts from all Austrian undergraduate physiotherapy programmes will be presented and implications will be discussed at the conference.

DISCUSSION: A consensus on current content in physiotherapy education will be sought among experts throughout Austria. It is acknowledged, however, that such a consensus only reflects expert opinions. Therefore, prior to establishing a nationwide standard, further activities will be required to enhance scientific rigour and facilitate the translation of findings into practice. Following a systematic screening of the scientific literature including clinical practice guidelines, any necessary adjustments to the consensus statement will be made. The perspectives of students and clinical educators also have to be considered.