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Trial registered on ANZCTR


Registration number
ACTRN12614000439640
Ethics application status
Approved
Date submitted
10/04/2014
Date registered
29/04/2014
Date last updated
29/04/2014
Type of registration
Retrospectively registered

Titles & IDs
Public title
Expertise in Physiotherapy: knowledge vs. clinical practice in the decision making process. A pilot cross-sectional study
Scientific title
Assessment of expertise in physiotherapy: the impact of years of experience or clinical tools knowledge/use ?
Secondary ID [1] 284414 0
None
Universal Trial Number (UTN)
Trial acronym
Linked study record

Health condition
Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied:
Assessment of expertise in physiotherapy 291614 0
Condition category
Condition code
Physical Medicine / Rehabilitation 291987 291987 0 0
Physiotherapy

Intervention/exposure
Study type
Observational
Patient registry
False
Target follow-up duration
Target follow-up type
Description of intervention(s) / exposure
Through the compilation of a brief on-line questionnaire were collected informations on years of experience, behaviour in two critical clinical cases and knowledge/use of clinical tools or tests selected using Evidence Based Practice criteria to discriminate serious conditions of pain that is nonmusculoskeletal in nature
Intervention code [1] 289163 0
Not applicable
Comparator / control treatment
not applicable
Control group
Uncontrolled

Outcomes
Primary outcome [1] 291886 0
The purpose of this study is to identify and emphasize which factor leads physical therapists’ choice the most, experience, measured with years of work or expertise assessed using the knowledge of clinical tools referred to answer on two critical clinical cases.
Timepoint [1] 291886 0
at the time of administration of the questionnaire
Secondary outcome [1] 307735 0
To identify if there is a relation between years of practice and knowledge of clinical tools selected following Evidence Based Practice criteria. Experience as years of work was assessed with 4 different categories (from 1to2, from3to5, from 6to10, more than 10). To assess the knowledge/use of clinical assessment tools a 0 to 5 point scale was used (0= never heard about; 1= have heard about but never used; 2= use it rarely; 3= use it sometimes; 4= use it often; 5= use it every time). Pain drawing/body chart, ULTT and Spurling's tests knowledge/use was asked.
Timepoint [1] 307735 0
at the time of administration of the questionnaire

Eligibility
Key inclusion criteria
Physiotherpists working more than 1 year
Minimum age
21 Years
Maximum age
No limit
Sex
Both males and females
Can healthy volunteers participate?
Yes
Key exclusion criteria
Physiotherspists working less than 1 year

Study design
Purpose
Psychosocial
Duration
Cross-sectional
Selection
Convenience sample
Timing
Prospective
Statistical methods / analysis
A cross-sectional mail survey was conducted through personal mail lists of physiotherapists known and on-line network pages of physiotherapists groups. A purposive sample was used. The sample size was not calculated because this is the first exploratory study in this field, but we referred as minimum sample size to the largest sample of experts in physiotherapy ever reported in a published study (55 physiotherapists). Spearman’s Rho test for correlation between all the variables was performed. Mann Whitney U test to assess the correlation of the years of practice and the clinical answers, and sample will be also dichotomized in four different ways in subgroups. A multinomial logistical regression will be performed for assessing the validity of the model considering all variables assessed referred to correct clinical answers. No assumption was formulated because of lack of knowledge on this field. Statistical significance was set to P = 0.05.

Recruitment
Recruitment status
Completed
Date of first participant enrolment
Anticipated
Actual
Date of last participant enrolment
Anticipated
Actual
Date of last data collection
Anticipated
Actual
Sample size
Target
Accrual to date
Final
Recruitment outside Australia
Country [1] 5979 0
Italy
State/province [1] 5979 0

Funding & Sponsors
Funding source category [1] 289063 0
Self funded/Unfunded
Name [1] 289063 0
None
Country [1] 289063 0
Primary sponsor type
Other Collaborative groups
Name
Giacomo Carta
Address
Istituti Clinici di Perfezionamento

Viale Andrea Doria 53, Milano 20100
Country
Italy
Secondary sponsor category [1] 287729 0
None
Name [1] 287729 0
Address [1] 287729 0
Country [1] 287729 0

Ethics approval
Ethics application status
Approved

Summary
Brief summary
The purpose of this study was to identify and emphasize which factor leads physical therapists’ choice the most, experience, measured with years of work or expertise assessed using the knowledge of clinical tools referred to answer on two clinical cases. Secondly we wanted to identify if there was a relation between years of practice and knowledge of clinical tools. At the moment ther are no studies that investigate clinical decision making process using clinical critical cases nor studies that explores if expertise in physiotherapy use clinical tools.
Trial website
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1GBcn8cSsOqkY4n46OSudng863A4sT0Fg_iH0u6DGTJo/edit#
Trial related presentations / publications
Public notes

Contacts
Principal investigator
Name 47626 0
Mr Giacomo Carta
Address 47626 0
Istituti Clinici di Perfezionamento

Viale Andrea Doria 53, Milano 20100
Country 47626 0
Italy
Phone 47626 0
+393405950493
Fax 47626 0
Email 47626 0
Contact person for public queries
Name 47627 0
Mr Mattia Sinatra
Address 47627 0
S. Maria Nascente Don Gnocchi IRRCS, Via Capecelatro 66, Milano 20100
Country 47627 0
Italy
Phone 47627 0
+393405950493
Fax 47627 0
Email 47627 0
Contact person for scientific queries
Name 47628 0
Mr Giacomo Carta
Address 47628 0
Istituti Clinici di Perfezionamento

Viale Andrea Doria 53, Milano 20100
Country 47628 0
Italy
Phone 47628 0
+393405950493
Fax 47628 0
Email 47628 0

No information has been provided regarding IPD availability


What supporting documents are/will be available?

No Supporting Document Provided



Results publications and other study-related documents

Documents added manually
No documents have been uploaded by study researchers.

Documents added automatically
No additional documents have been identified.