Scope of practice- Are you working within yours?

Internal Pelvic Examinations (IPE) are a daily occurrence in a Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy practice. However, despite the sensitivity and complexity of pelvic floor assessment and practice, there are currently no formal guidelines or rules that govern exactly what type of training is required for this nor is there an agreed standard to determine competence in this area.

To tackle such a difficult topic we have Professor Clare Delany joining us. Together with Professor Delany, we aim to take a deep dive into determining clinical competency and scope of practice in the area of pelvic health assessment, treatment and management.

Professor Clare Delany
Professor Delany trained and worked physiotherapist and is now a highly experienced clinical ethicist having worked at the Royal Children's Hospital in this role for the past 15 years. Clare is currently a clinical ethicist at Peter MaCallum Hospital and she provides ethics consultations services for individual clinicians and health organisations and services who do not have their own embedded clinical ethicist. Clare is a nationally accredited mediator providing mediation services in situations where conflict between people disrupts safe and effective delivery of healthcare.

One of Clare’s published research papers to which we will refer to is: "An argument for competency-based training in pelvic floor physiotherapy practice." Together with co-authors;  Associate Professor Helena Frawley and Dr Trish Newmann, this paper discusses the meaning and implications of scope of practice in physiotherapy pelvic health assessment and interventions.

In this interactive webinar, we will draw from this paper and address the following questions:

•  What does 'Scope of practice' mean for a Physiotherapists?
• When should physiotherapists be concerned about the ‘scope’ and the ‘limits’  of their practice?
•  What are the criteria (including specific competencies) that a physiotherapist should be able to demonstrate to be practising within their ‘scope of practice’ in pelvic health
• Suggestions of ways to meet these criteria