Additional comments reported or discussed by participants and illustrative quotations from participants
| Theme/subtheme | Number of comments (n) | Illustrative quotations (quotations have been copied verbatim) |
| Quality and safety Clinical governance, policy and procedure Education | 217 | ‘Prescribing medicines is a risk to the physiotherapy profession as there can be a lot of risks to the patient with medications. Prescribing and its scope needs to be carefully planned and managed with introduction to the physiotherapy profession’ (participant 379). ‘The physio who is going be a prescriber needs to undergo a certain number of hours of training… going through an examination process. Continuous on-going training is also important as medications change fairly rapidly’ (participant 14). ‘…[P]rofessional indemnity is required to protect them in case of errors or mishaps’ (participant 89). ‘Risks of ‘doctor shopping’ of physiotherapists for opioid based drugs without centralised control’ (participant 651). ‘The challenge in prescribing is ensuring consumer safety through adequate training of the physiotherapists involved and improved communication across health professions’ (participant 56). |
| Professional issues | 39 | ‘I believe that it would create confusion for the public if some physiotherapists could prescribe, while others could not’ (participant 227). ‘A cultural change is needed, namely adjusting the public’s perception of what allied health professionals can do, in order to effectively use non-medical prescribing rights’ (participant 380). ‘… the medical doctors may have their issues with this as it may be seen as a direct challenge to their authority and therefore reduce their use of referral pathways already established’ (participant 4). ‘I would be concerned that there may be a conflict that forms between doctors and physiotherapists if physios were given prescribing authority. I think there would have to be some very strict guidelines about managing a patient who may be seeking prescriptions from both a doctor and physiotherapist at the same time’ (participant 879). ‘I think the medical and pharmaceutical professions would have a negative view of physios prescribing and be less willing to work with us/refer patients to us’ (participant 447). |
| Physiotherapy professional priorities | 40 | ‘Physio profession needs to become more progressive with enhanced scope roles, career pathways are currently limited’ (participant 412). ‘I think that the physiotherapy profession should spend their resources and energies trying to improve the ability for Physiotherapists to order radiological investigations (scans etc) and referrals to specialists which would be far more beneficial in a cost and time saving way then being able to prescribe medications’ (participant 78). ‘Potential for increased reliance on pharmaceutical treatments of MSK conditions over traditional physiotherapy management strategies (i.e. manual therapy, exercise prescription)’ (participant 701). ‘May potentially de-value other interventions in the management plan (ie, committing to taking medication as prescribed, but not to exercises prescribed in same session)’ (participant 219). |