The professional development and career journey into musculoskeletal first contact physiotherapy: a telephone...

Musculoskeletal (MSK) first contact physiotherapy (FCP) is being rolled out in the National Health Service, but limited research exists on career pathways into MSK FCP, or on pre-and-post-registration educational preparation for the knowledge and skills that are required for musculoskeletal first contact physiotherapy.

From the perspectives of existing MSK FCPs, the study sought to understand the pre-and-post-registration professional developmental journey into musculoskeletal first contact physiotherapy.

Semi-structured interviews over the telephone were conducted with a self-selected and snowball sample of 15 MSK FCPs from across Britain. Framework analysis was used to analyze the interview transcripts.

Four overarching themes were identified: (1) Decision to choose a career path as a MSK FCP; (2) Relevancy of pre-registration physiotherapy (PT) education for MSK FCP; (3) Relevancy of post-registration continuing professional development for MSK FCP, and; (4) Improving pre-registration PT education for the foundational knowledge and skills required to work in musculoskeletal first contact physiotherapy. Each overarching theme generated several subthemes.

The research contributes to understanding the career pathway into the MSK FCP role and showed what relevant knowledge and skills were acquired for this role at pre-and-post registration levels. Findings will inform guidance for pre-registration PT curriculum development.