Of the almost 50,000 physiotherapists registered in Australia, approximately 1200 of them are employed in general practices, Aboriginal Medical Services or Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services as part of a multidisciplinary team. 

However, very little is actually known about the work they do, the kinds of patients they see or the care they provide. Australian researchers are hoping to remedy that in a new study. 

This data will also be useful for the APA to help in conversations with government bodies and advocacy for the profession. 

The OCEAN study, funded by the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, is being conducted as a collaboration between the University of Sydney, the University of Wollongong and the National Association of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners.

‘OCEAN follows on from the BEACH study, which provided a powerful dataset to help better understand the patterns of care in general practice by looking at their clinical activity. 

OCEAN now extends to nurses, nurse practitioners and physios as well as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers and health practitioners,’ says Dr Michelle Hancock, a physiotherapist and project manager at the University of Sydney. 

‘We’re mostly looking at how those professions function within the general practices, what they bring to the table and whether they’re being utilised to their full extent.’ 

‘Most of the currently available GP data is now historical from the old BEACH program. 

We have Medicare data, but this information lacks context because it doesn’t tell you what the clinician saw the patient for,’ adds Professor Sarah Dennis, a physiotherapist and professor of allied health at the University of Sydney. 

‘As a result of this, the Commonwealth, and professional organisations such as the APA, have very little information about who these clinicians are, what sorts of patients they see and what treatments they offer.’ 

Aims 

The OCEAN study aims to assess current models of general practice, team-based care in Australia. 

It will gather real-world evidence about physiotherapist practice, firstly by capturing data about the physiotherapists including their education, skills and scope of practice. 

And secondly, by capturing data about the patients who present to general practices and the clinical care provided. 

It will also explore the broader multidisciplinary team, such as whether patients are referred to the physiotherapist via the GP or self-referred and whether they see other health professionals within the practice for the same problem. 

This information is important to better understand the varied settings in which physiotherapists work in terms of funding, policy and industry support. 

Methods 

Participants will initially complete a 19-question individual professional profile questionnaire (15–20 minutes long). 

They will then be asked to complete an electronic encounter form (through the OCEAN portal) for up to 100 consecutive, consenting patient encounters. 

For each encounter, participants will be able to review their draft responses before final submission to the research team. 

Each encounter form should take two to five minutes to complete. 

Future impact 

This study will give us the first national dataset about who physiotherapists working in general practice are and the clinical activity they undertake. Ongoing analyses will highlight areas where physiotherapists might be better utilised by working to their full scope of practice or undertaking training to extend their role, improving job satisfaction and workforce retention while expanding the practice’s care delivery capacity. 

How to participate 

If you are an Ahpra-registered physiotherapist currently working within a general-practice setting and are willing to participate in the OCEAN study, visit ocean.sydney.edu.au, email ocean.study@sydney.edu.au or call 1800 262 326 (18002OCEAN).