Background: This randomized study, conducted from October to December 2023 in the emergency department of Bethesda Hospital Basel, Switzerland, investigated a new model of care for patients presenting with non-urgent musculoskeletal disorders (MSKDs). It was initiated in response to two major challenges in the Swiss healthcare system: a shortage of general practitioners and a rising number of ED visits for conditions such as back, neck, and shoulder pain, sprains, and other joint or muscle complaints without serious underlying pathology. Internationally, Advanced Physiotherapy Practice (APP) roles, in which specially trained physiotherapists independently assess, diagnose, treat, and discharge patients with appropriate MSKDs, have been successfully implemented in emergency settings, but this model is still novel in Switzerland, and local evidence on safety and comparability to medical care is lacking.
Methods: A total of 102 patients with musculoskeletal complaints and no signs of serious structural or systemic disease were included after informed consent. Patients were randomly assigned either to an intervention group, managed by physiotherapists working in an advanced practice role, or to a control group receiving standard care from resident physicians. Senior physicians, acting as reference standard, reviewed clinical findings, diagnoses, treatment recommendations, and discharge decisions from both groups. Agreement between each provider group and senior physicians was quantified using established measures of inter-rater reliability, specifically Cohen's Kappa (κ) and Gwet's AC1, to determine concordance beyond chance.
Conclusions: This study aims to determine whether advanced practice physiotherapists can provide clinical decision-making comparable to resident physicians for non-urgent MSKDs in the ED. Demonstrating high levels of agreement in diagnosis, management, and discharge planning would support the safe integration of APP roles into Swiss emergency workflows, with potential benefits including reduced waiting times, more efficient use of physician resources, improved patient flow, and maintenance of high standards of care and patient safety, thereby informing workforce planning and task-sharing strategies in acute care.