At Allsports Physiotherapy we have a firm commitment to the delivery of the highest quality of health care. We believe that excellence in clinical care must be based on a solid foundation of knowledge, continuing professional education and skill development. We foster a culture of learning and provide and support staff with quality learning and teaching experiences.

This is achieved through the following initiatives:

• PROFESSIONAL STAFF

o Staff Professional Development
o New Graduate Program
o Management Professional Development

• COMMUNITY

• UNIVERSITY LINKS

o Clinical Education
o University Teaching

• SPECIALIST STAFF

• RESEARCH

PROFESSIONAL STAFF
Staff Professional Development
Ongoing skill development and enhancement of staff performance is one of the utmost priorities at Allsports Physiotherapy.

Staff are encouraged and supported to attend professional development courses organised by the Australian Physiotherapy Association and other relevant professional bodies.

Our own professional development program provides for biannual seminars / mini-conference afternoons for all clinics with presentations by both external speakers and experienced clinicians within our group.

Regular peer review, case presentations and seminars are conducted at each clinic. In addition, the professional associations we share with attending sports medicine colleagues allows for tremendous on-site interdisciplinary learning and teaching opportunities.

New Graduate Program
Subject to availability of positions, Allsports Physiotherapy endeavours each year to employ an intake of newly graduated physiotherapists. These physiotherapists are required to participate in our New Graduate Program. The New Graduate Program has been operating informally since 1993 and in a more structured format since 2003. Over this time we have seen more 70 new graduate physiotherapists make a supported transition into private clinical practice. The program receives excellent feedback from our new staff and is often cited as one of the unique experiences provided by Allsports Physiotherapy.

Management
Each of the Allsports Physiotherapy Clinics are individually owned and operated by Managing Directors who have been practicing physiotherapists within our organisation for many years. We recognise that the provision of ongoing support and skill development for our directors in the area of practice management is of paramount importance. As a group we strive to achieve this through educational seminars and regular meetings of Directors focusing on the issues of balancing practice management and the delivery of a quality health service.

COMMUNITY
Several of our physiotherapists are actively involved in the education and dissemination of injury management strategies to the wider community.

Staff with specialist knowledge in specific fields embrace the opportunity to speak with various groups including:

Teams and sporting organisations
Professional Golfers Association of Australia (PGA)
Other Health Professional Groups
Corporate organisations
Industry groups such as Warner Village Theme Parks
Local Schools

Feedback from these groups has always been positive. We believe that we play an integral role in the development of strong links with the local community, in relation to health education.

UNIVERSITY LINKS

Clinical Education
At Allsports Physiotherapy we have a keen desire to contribute to the development of the profession of physiotherapy. One way we are able to do this is via a commitment to the university physiotherapy teaching schools. To this end, several of our senior staff are clinical educators and contribute to teaching and supervision of placements for physiotherapy students from The University of Queensland, Griffith University and Bond University.

University Teaching
A number of our staff are involved in regular teaching positions within the Divisions of Physiotherapy at both Griffith University and the University of QLD.

Dr Kerrie Evans is a Lecturer at Griffith University on the Gold Coast and is involved in teaching undergraduate and post-graduate physiotherapy students. Her primary area of teaching is in musculoskeletal physiotherapy.

Kym Hartwich is a sessional staff member at the University of Queensland and Lisa Roach, Jon Michael and Sean Horan are sessional staff members at Griffith University. They are all involved in teaching sports and/or musculoskeletal physiotherapy.

SPECIALIST STAFF
Recent advances in the structure of training within the physiotherapy profession have seen the emergence of Specialist physiotherapists. Specialist physiotherapists are those who have undergone an intensive examination process involving the demonstration of advanced clinical skills and evidence-based practice.

Dr. Kerrie Evans, one of the directors in our Southport clinic, is a Specialist Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist. One of Kerrie’s predominant roles within Allsports Physiotherapy is to assist in the development and delivery of the education programs, in-services, training workshops and lectures for our group. As part of her role as an educator, Kerrie also delivers workshops for other physiotherapists, for the Professional Golfer’s Association of Australia (PGA) and other professional organisations, and is frequently invited to present at corporate events.

RESEARCH
At Allsports Physiotherapy we embrace best clinical practice and evidence based sports medicine. Further to this, we are dedicated to undertaking clinical research. Dr Kerrie Evans has completed her PhD investigating low back pain in golfers, has published in several international journals and presented at national and international conferences. Sean Horan is currently undertaking his PhD in the area of low back pain in golfers.

Some of our current research involves the collection of injury data from specific clinical populations. Tony Ganter, Cameron Schembri and Jonathon Hennessy are actively engaged in research investigating injuries in elite soccer players. Nicole Magner is assisting in data collection for research into Achilles tendonopathy and Michelle Kneebone is assisting in a clinical trial investigating the effects of exercise for people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

We believe that our involvement in and support of clinical based research acknowledges our commitment to the development of profession of physiotherapy and offers our staff unique opportunity to further enhance their knowledge and skill.