What is the Physiotherapy Health Informatics Strategy?

What is the PHIS?

The PHIS is divided into three areas:

• The Vision – to build a culture of using informatics throughout the profession 
  Our objectives for change, whether you work at an individual, organisational or national level, and how they impact on each other
• Practical application – how health informatics will be implemented
  Guidance on how members can lead change, as well as showcases of individuals and services that have already achieved good practice
• Education – how we can learn to best use health informatics
  A suite of modules to enable members to develop their informatics knowledge and skills, and signposting to further resources

How will the PHIS affect the profession?

The strategy will impact physiotherapy in a growing number of ways – from how people are trained, through to how the impact of physios' work is reported.

Read the Frontline article on PHIS, which includes case studies of different members of the profession and how their work is likely to be impacted. 

The new generation of physios are already using data in their studies, and will be a significant force in creating a culture of using informatics across physiotherapy. We asked three students to give us their views on the PHIS and how it will impact on their careers.

What led to the PHIS?

The physiotherapy profession has been active in the field of health informatics for many years. From the early days of electrotherapy, through bar code scanners for data capture, to the current day of gamification, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, the CSP has promoted the use of health informatics in physiotherapy. 

In 2019, the CSP formed the Digital and Informatics Physiotherapy Group (DIPG) to bring together members of the profession who were involved in or interested in informatics. 

Although numerous digital and informatics strategies have been published in recent years by various organisations, their impact on the physiotherapy profession has been limited. None of the strategies focused exclusively on physiotherapy, therefore at the end of 2021, the CSP began developing the PHIS alongside subject matter experts, the DIPG and CSP members.

The PHIS aims to:

• Provide a platform to engage, educate and enable members of the physiotherapy profession in embracing and implementing informatics
• Cultivate a culture to optimise the use of informatics to enhance healthcare provision, research and education delivered by and involving the physiotherapy profession
• Build the capability of our current and future physiotherapy workforce to embrace and actively engage with health informatics at an individual, organisational and national level
• Understand and explain a broad range of potential barriers, and the enablers that will support the implementation of informatics in physiotherapy

To achieve these aims the three strategic objectives of the PHIS are:

1. To improve the knowledge, skills and confidence of the profession in digital and informatics literacy (individual level)
2. To place informatics as a central part of transformation plans, cultivating a culture of co-design, supported by quality data to improve services and healthcare outcomes (organisation level)
3. To influence and shape the national agenda, policy and guidelines on health informatics in physiotherapy (national level)