BACKGROUND: Physiotherapists in Australia play a vital first-contact role in identifying suspected serious pathologies and navigating their management pathways. Current literature highlights challenges faced by physiotherapists including implications of ineffective identification and management of suspected serious pathologies, yet the perspectives of new-graduate physiotherapists related to this area of practice remain unknown. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore new-graduate physiotherapists' perspectives and developmental needs related to identifying suspected serious pathologies and navigating their management pathways in patients with musculoskeletal complaints. DESIGN: and Method: A qualitative study using a reflexive thematic analytical approach was undertaken. Eighteen semi-structured interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis was utilized on the interview data. RESULTS: Four key themes were generated: (1) Physiotherapists as advocates; (2) Navigating uncertainties and complexities; (3) Safe and accessible workplace support builds confidence; and (4) Importance of direct learning opportunities. CONCLUSION: New-graduate physiotherapists recognize their imperative role as first-contact practitioners in identifying and navigating suspected serious pathologies yet also experience significant uncertainties. The findings highlight key developmental needs, including supportive workplaces, established referral frameworks and direct learning opportunities during pre-professional training.
Physical Therapists , Qualitative Research , Humans , Physical Therapists/psychology , Female , Male , Adult , Australia , Musculoskeletal Diseases/diagnosis , Musculoskeletal Diseases/therapy , Middle Aged , Attitude of Health Personnel
Continuous monitoring of arterial blood pressure is clinically important for the diagnosis and management of cardiovascular diseases. Soft electronic devices with skin-like properties show promise in a wide range of applications, including the human-machine interface, the Internet of things, and health monitoring. Here, we report the use of add-on soft electronic interfaces to address the connection challenges between soft electrodes and rigid data acquisition circuitry for bioimpedance monitoring of cardiac signals, including heart rate and cuffless blood pressure. Nanocomposite films in add-on electrodes provide robust electrical and mechanical contact with the skin and the rigid circuitry. We demonstrate bioimpedance sensors composed of add-on electrodes for continuous blood pressure monitoring with high accuracy. Specifically, the bioimpedance collected with add-on nanocomposite electrodes shows a signal-to-noise ratio of 37.0 dB, higher than the ratio of 25.9 dB obtained with standard silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl gel) electrodes. Although the sample set is low, the continuously measured systolic and diastolic blood pressure offer accuracy of -2.0 ± 6.3 mmHg and -4.3 ± 3.9 mmHg, respectively, confirming the grade A performance based on the IEEE standard. These results show promise in bioimpedance measurements with add-on soft electrodes for cuffless blood pressure monitoring.
Organic materials are promising candidates for the development of efficient sensors for many medicinal and materials science applications. Single crystals of a small molecule, 4-trifluoromethyl phenyl isothiocyanate (4CFNCS), exhibit plastic deformation when bent, twisted, or coiled. Synchrotron micro-focus X-ray diffraction mapping of the bent region of the crystal confirms the mechanism of deformation. The crystals are incorporated into a flexible piezoresistive sensor using a composite constituting PEDOT: PSS/4CFNCS, which shows an impressive performance at high-pressure ranges (sensitivity 0.08 kPa-1 above 44 kPa).
