“Passion to do the right thing”: searching for the ‘good’ in physiotherapist practice

ABSTRACT

Background

Practitioners’ perspectives of what constitutes a ‘good’ physiotherapist have not been explicitly examined despite their potential implications for the future practice of physiotherapy. Physiotherapists’ perceptions may inform professional priorities including education curricula, professional practices, competency profiles, and patient interactions.

Purpose

The purpose of this research was to examine physiotherapists’ perceptions of what constitutes a ‘good’ physiotherapist. The context of the study was musculoskeletal practice (MSK).

Methods

A hermeneutic phenomenological investigation was undertaken. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve experienced MSK physiotherapists to examine their perceptions of what constitutes a ‘good’ physiotherapist.

Findings

Seven themes were identified. Good physiotherapists were depicted as: 1) oriented to care; 2) integrating knowledge sources; 3) competent; 4) responsive; 5) reflective; 6) communicative; and 7) reasoning. To deepen the understanding of these themes, we discuss the findings in relation to Joan Tronto’s ethic of care theory.

Conclusions

Physiotherapists’ perceptions of what constitutes a ‘good’ physiotherapist highlight practices that may underpin an ethic of care including the pivotal role of person-centered and relational dimensions of practice. The findings call into question the profession’s emphasis on a technical rationalist approach to education and clinical practice and invites conversation about future directions that balance technical competence with relational dimensions of practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Physiotherapy
• professional behaviors
• clinical competence
• professional-patient relations
• musculoskeletal
• orthopedic
• Patient-Centered care
• phenomenology

Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely thank the physiotherapists who participated in the study and appreciate their willingness to share their perspectives and stories with us.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Teaching Fellowship awarded to DW through the Western University Centre for Teaching and Learning.