Physiotherapy advanced clinical practitioners in an inpatient medical team: opportunities and challenges

Background: Physiotherapy advanced clinical practitioners (ACPs) working within inpatient medical teams are being used to deliver healthcare in community hospitals. Little is known about how physiotherapists working in this type of role impact, and are viewed by, ward staff. Aim: To explore ward staffs' experience of physiotherapy ACPs working in an inpatient medical team in a community hospital setting. Method: An interview-based questionnaire was completed by 16 participants from the multi-disciplinary team between November 2022 and January 2023 across three community hospitals. All 16 participants worked directly with physiotherapy ACPs. Data were collected and analysed using the Braun and Clarke (2006) thematic analysis six-step model for pattern recognition. Findings: A total of four themes (‘inpatient ACPs are all the same’; ‘missing opportunities?’; ‘a great asset’; and ‘challenges’) and eight subthemes (medical role, generic role, underutilisation, innovation potential, improved patient care, team enhancement, prescribing, and role confusion) were identified. Conclusion: Physiotherapy ACPs provide general medical care to patients in the community hospital setting. They are an asset to the inpatient medical team, particularly in driving the importance of rehabilitation in this setting. The physiotherapy ACPs encountered profession-specific barriers around prescribing, which negatively impacted their ability to fulfil this role.