Supporting Consultations in Remote Physiotherapy (SCiP): a mixed-methods study of physical examinations by video in NHS physiotherapy services

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rapid scale-up of video consulting across the NHS. Video consultations are now being used in physiotherapy services to assess patients and how they move remotely.

However, clinicians and patients are grappling with new ways of interacting, including how to conduct a physical examination.

RESEARCH QUESTION How are physical examinations by video for physiotherapy successfully accomplished; and what is the role of intermediaries and technologies in supporting this?

AIM To understand how physical examinations are conducted for physiotherapy services; and to produce guidance to support wider use in the NHS.

METHODS Mixed-method study, combining video-recordings of up to 20 video consultations in physiotherapy services with interviews.

We will seek diversity in clinical, social, ethnic and personal circumstances of patients, as well as health/digital literacy.

Analysis will use established micro-analytic methods to understand how participants overcome challenges of interaction in remote physical examinations.

TIMELINES FOR DELIVERY 12-month study, involving initial set-up (month 1-2) and three overlapping work packages: Case studies (2-6), collecting data On-going analysis (3-9), of video and interview data Dissemination & impact (8-12), co-designing guidance, informing spread and scale up of video consulting in wider NHS ANTICIPATED IMPACT AND DISSEMINATION We will: Develop evidence-based guidance, co-designed with clinicians and patients, to support video examinations in physiotherapy in the wider NHS; Link with DHCS, NHSE/I and other decision-makers to help shape evolving policy for video consultations; Write one academic paper on physical examinations in video physiotherapy for top tier medical informatics journal.