Acceptability of physiotherapists as primary care practitioners and advanced practice physiotherapists for care of patients with musculoskeletal disorders: a survey of a university community within the province of Quebec

BACKGROUND: Musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders represent a great burden on the health care system. The use of physiotherapists in their autonomous roles and in advanced practice roles may help increase access to care. Thus, the aim of this survey was to assess the perceptions of a university community sample within the province of Quebec about physiotherapists as primary care practitioners and advanced practice physiotherapists (APPs) for the treatment of patients with musculoskeletal disorders. METHODS: An electronic survey was sent in February 2014 via a web platform to members of the Laval University community (Québec City, Canada). The survey included questions about knowledge and perceptions on current physiotherapists’ autonomous role in primary care and on APP future model of care for patients with MSK disorders. Survey results were synthetized with descriptive statistics. Differences in responses according to demographics, personal characteristics and previous physiotherapy care experience were evaluated using Chi-Square tests. RESULTS: A total of 513 participants completed the online survey (1 % response rate). The majority of respondents were women (74 %) and aged 18 to 24 (39 % of all respondent). About 90 % of respondents believed that physiotherapists were skilled and competent and 91 % answered that they had trust in physiotherapists for the treatment of MSK disorders in primary care. A total of 90 % of respondents supported the idea of introducing APPs for the treatment of patients with MSK disorders. Over 90 % of respondents were in favour of the delegation of medical acts such as: communicating a medical diagnosis, ordering imaging tests, triaging surgical candidates or prescribing medication such as NSAIDS. CONCLUSIONS: Respondents are satisfied and have confidence in physiotherapists as primary care practitioners; they also support the intended new roles of the APPs in the health care system. Caution should be taken in generalizing these results from this particular sample. These results need to be corroborated in the general population. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12891-016-1256-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.