South African physiotherapists' attitudes to medicine prescription as an extension of practice.
Tsungirirai V Kakono, Desmond Mathye, Sarel J Brand and 1 others
PMID 37415856WHAT IT FOUND
Most South African physiotherapists want prescribing rights and would train for them.
They see it as a way to cut waiting times and extra visits for patients needing pain relief or respiratory drugs, but worry about gaps in their pharmacology knowledge.
Key findings
0182.20% of physiotherapists agreed prescribing should be in their scope, and 87.64% were willing to undergo required training.
02Participants believed prescribing would reduce the need for multiple consultations (93.20%) and cut consumer waiting times (87.7%).
03The top concern was missing prerequisite knowledge (55.00%), followed by fears of higher insurance premiums for medical liability (46.20%).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The survey was distributed only through two professional associations, so therapists who are not members were excluded, potentially skewing the sample. Because it was an anonymous online form, there is no way to confirm participants did not submit responses more than once. The study reports opinions and attitudes, not actual clinical outcomes or safety data from prescribing. Some sections of the questionnaire were not completed by all participants, so the denominator for specific findings may vary slightly from the total 359.
Declared interests
No funding sources or competing interests are declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the high agreement for prescribing rights as evidence that physiotherapists are currently authorised to prescribe or that the practice is proven safe and effective in South Africa. The study measures professional opinion and perceived benefit, not clinical outcomes or legislative reality.