Development and validation of clinical vignettes to inform an educational intervention for physiotherapists to detect serious pathologies: A mixed-methods study

Lackenbauer, Wolfgang, Gasselich, Simon, Schabel, Lars, Beikircher, Reinhard, Keip, Christian, Wieser, Manfred, Selfe, James ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9931-4998, Mazuquin, Bruno ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1566-9551, Yeowell, Gillian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3872-9799 and Janssen, Jessie (2025) Development and validation of clinical vignettes to inform an educational intervention for physiotherapists to detect serious pathologies: A mixed-methods study. BMJ Open. ISSN 2044-6055 (In Press)

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Abstract

Objectives: To develop and validate educational clinical vignettes (CVs), based on real-life patients with serious pathology from the disciplines of oncology, internal medicine, and orthopaedics, that are relevant for physiotherapists (PTs) working in a non-direct access system. Design: A mixed methods study using an iterative design was employed to develop and validate CVs that focussed on serious pathology. Setting: Academic and clinical settings within health faculties at 3 universities in Austria and the United Kingdom (UK). Participants: Medical doctors (MD) (n=3) and PTs (n=4) developed CVs in the disciplines internal medicine, oncology and orthopaedics. Validation of the CVs was undertaken in 3 stages: internal validation by research team (n=7), external validation by MDs (n=3) and external validation by PTs (n=18). Results: 25 CVs focussing on internal medicine (9), oncology (8) and orthopaedics (8) were developed. Results of the consensus method of Haute Autorité de Santé ranged between 7-9 in the internal validation stage. In the external validation stage with MDs one orthopaedic CV was excluded, resulting in a final total of 24 validated CVs. Conclusions: This is the first-time educational CVs have been developed and validated in such a broad range of pathologies for countries without direct access to physiotherapy, for use in the education of PTs. Furthermore, the approach described in the methods section of this paper may serve as a template in future similar projects.