Therapists’ perspectives of enhanced roles in Emergency/Acute Medicine
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists’ perspectives on enhanced roles in Emergency and Acute Medicine: are we extending or diluting our skills?
IRAS ID
196853
Contact name
Amanda Hyman
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
The Department of Health has identified that the development of a flexible workforce through extended practice is a potential solution to increasing demand on Emergency and Acute Medicine. Therapists working in Emergency and Acute Medicine are an example of such practice. Despite these roles existing in the majority of acute NHS Trusts across England and Wales with proven effectiveness at preventing hospital admissions, there has been little research into the experiences of Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists working in these roles. A more detailed understanding of the challenges and difficulties faced by therapists working within these would enable service leads and Therapy Managers to provide more specific training opportunities, more standardised and robust practice guidelines and improved organisational support as suggested by the Department of Health. Standardised methods of working based on best practice will benefit patients and ensure equity and continuity of care.
The purpose of this study is to explore therapists’ perspectives of working within enhanced roles roles (roles which require skills and knowledge that is traditionally outside of the worker's professional scope) and how this impacts on their professional identity and development. This will be a qualitative study incorporating 3 online focus groups and 3 face-to-face focus groups with a total of 30-42 therapists working in Emergency and Acute Medicine. Participants will be invited from three acute hospitals within London NHS Trusts for the face-to-face focus groups and from the Twitter population (UK only) for the online focus groups.
Focus groups will last a maximum of 90 minutes and participants will be asked to share their experiences of working in this setting.
REC name
N/A
REC reference
N/A