Prognosis in Entry-Level Physiotherapy Programs: An Australian and New Zealand Framework for Developing Knowledge and Skills for Musculoskeletal Practice

Nicholas Mullen; Samantha Ashby; Darren Beales; Leanne Bisset; Roma Forbes; Jon Ford; Wayne Hing; Mark Jones; Ewan Kennedy; Edmund Leahy; Steve Milanese; Duncan Reid; Nic Saraceni; Peter Osmotherly

doi:10.1016/j.msksp.2026.103572

Prognosis in Entry-Level Physiotherapy Programs: An Australian and New Zealand Framework for Developing Knowledge and Skills for Musculoskeletal Practice

Nicholas Mullen, Samantha Ashby, Darren Beales, Leanne Bisset, Roma Forbes, Jon Ford, Wayne Hing, Mark Jones, Ewan Kennedy, Edmund Leahy, …

Musculoskeletal science & practice, Vol.84, 103572

07/05/2026

: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msksp.2026.103572

https://hdl.handle.net/10523/50965

Clinical Reasoning

Education

Musculoskeletal Diseases

Physical Therapy

Prognosis

Question: How should prognosis in relation to musculoskeletal disorders be incorporated into the curriculum of entry-level physiotherapy programs within Australia and New Zealand? Design: Consensus group methodology using the nominal group technique. Participants: Twelve members considered experts in the fields of musculoskeletal physiotherapy and entry-level education in Australia and New Zealand were invited to participate. Method: The nominal group technique method implemented involved three specific stages. In stage one members were provided with pre-reading material related to the topic of prognosis. They were instructed to generate ideas and feedback related to this material. Stage two involved an online consensus group meeting to discuss the ideas and feedback generated from the pre-reading material. Consensus statements were also generated within this meeting. Stage three involved rounds of iterative feedback and refinement of the consensus statements. Results: Four consensus statements were generated including the definition of prognosis; the purpose of learning about prognosis; recommendations for incorporating prognosis into entry-level curriculum; and what elements of prognosis should be taught and assessed. Conclusion: Prognosis is a complex but essential concept to incorporate within entry-level physiotherapy curriculum. Entry-level physiotherapy programs should be explicit in the teaching and assessment of the knowledge and skills relating to prognosis. This framework may assist educators in incorporating prognostic content throughout their curriculum.

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msksp.2026.103572

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: Prognosis in Entry-Level Physiotherapy Programs: An Australian and New Zealand Framework for Developing Knowledge and Skills for Musculoskeletal Practice
: Nicholas Mullen
Samantha Ashby
Darren Beales
Leanne Bisset
Roma Forbes
Jon Ford
Wayne Hing
Mark Jones
Ewan Kennedy
Edmund Leahy
Steve Milanese
Duncan Reid
Nic Saraceni
Peter Osmotherly
: School of Physiotherapy
: Musculoskeletal science & practice, Vol.84, 103572
: Elsevier
: 07/05/2026
: Copyright © The Author(s) 2026. This work was first published in Musculoskeletal Science and Practice (Elsevier). This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided that the original work is properly attributed to the creator(s) and the source, a link to the Creative Commons license is provided, and any changes made are indicated.
: English
: Journal article