Access: 12 months | Cost: $360 NZD | Payment plan available.

Medical screening is an essential skill for all physiotherapists. In this comprehensive, fully online programme you will learn medical screening from body systems, and regional approaches. You will learn to identify risk factors, symptoms and signs associated with serious medical conditions to help you effectively screen your patients for serious pathologies and understand referral prioritisation.

This course is open to Physiotherapists and other health professionals practising in all areas of the health care system who want to upskill in medical screening. 

Medical screening is an integral component of the skill set of all physiotherapists and other health professionals working in primary care, public health settings and advanced practice roles. This is a comprehensive, fully online program providing 8-10 hours of self-paced learning through 10 comprehensive audio-visual modules supported by downloadable handouts and videos. 

Participants will be grounded in medical screening concepts from both a regional and systems approach. Clinical utilization guidelines, practice recommendations are delivered with quick reference summary tables provided in the downloadable handouts, which may be printed for future reference. 

This program has been developed by and is being delivered in partnership with Key Clinical Skills a recognized leader in post-professional education for Allied Health Professionals in Canada with registration and additional support provided by the Ontario Physiotherapy Association. 

Some elements of this presentation may be specific to the Canadian health system and some features such as registration and recertification programmes may not be available outside Canada. 

By the end of this course you will:

  1. Understand medical screening concepts at the regional and body system level.
  2. Understand the prevalence and risk factors for common medical conditions.
  3. Be able to effectively screen for, and appropriately refer people with suspected:
  • Body system impairments
  • Inflammatory conditions
  • Cancer
  • Serious spinal conditions
  • Craniocervical conditions
  • Specific upper and lower limb conditions


Topics

Learning Outcomes

Unit 1: Introduction

  • Screening is not an option
  • Advanced practice models
  • Medical traffic lights

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Discuss the importance of medical screening in general physiotherapy & advanced practice roles.
  • Describe the relative prevalence of various diseases and conditions on a local and global scale.
  • Understand the medical traffic light system for referral prioritisation of people with red flags. 

Unit 2: Health Screening

  • Visceral pain patterns
  • Health status forms
  • Body systems approach

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Describe visceral pain referral patterns
  • List the key red flag indicators of serious medical conditions for each body system.
  • Describe symptoms and signs of medical conditions that require urgent medical referral. 

Unit 3: The Big 3

  • Hypertension
  • Arthritis
  • Depression

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Describe the prevalence and incidence of hypertension, arthritis and depression locally and globally.
  • Describe the risk factors and comorbidities for each condition.
  • List screening tools and associated diagnostic criteria for each condition. 

Unit 4: Rheumatological Conditions 

  • Sero-positive arthritis
  • Sero-negative arthritis
  • Non-articular conditions

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • List and describe the key clinical features & diagnostic tests for sero-negative and sero-positive rheumatological diseases
  • Discuss the implications of spondyloarthropathies and connective tissue diseases in physiotherapy practice.

Unit 5: Cancer Screening

  • Signs and symptoms
  • Pathways for metastases
  • Endogenous risk factors
  • Exogenous risk factors
  • Clinical reference sheets

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • List the most common types of cancer
  • Describe common cancer pathways and signs and symptoms of bony metastases
  • Describe the endogenous and exogenous risk factors for different cancer types.
  • List clinical symptoms and signs of different cancer types. 

Unit 6: Cranium and Cervical Spine 

  • Headaches
  • Vascular compromise
  • Assessment of Myelopathy/ Radiculopathy
  • Visceral pain
  • Spinal tumours

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • List the mechanical, vascular, medical and neoplastic causes of headaches.
  • Discuss differentiating clinical features and diagnostic tests for different headache causes. 
  • Discuss the accuracy of clinical tests for upper motor neuron conditions. 

Unit 7: Thoracic, Lumbar Spine & Pelvis 

  • Osteoporosis
  • Spinal tumours
  • Cauda equina and AAA
  • Metabolic bone lesions
  • Radiculopathy / Stenosis
  • Visceral / Vascular
  • Spondyloarthropathies
  • Clinical Reference Sheets

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • List the mechanical, vascular, visceral, infective, rheumatologic and neoplastic causes of lumbopelvic & thoracic symptoms.
  • Discuss traumatic injuries and associated pathology.
  • List red flag indicators of serious pathology and discuss referral prioritisation and pathways.  

 

Unit 8: Upper Limb 

  • Visceral pain
  • Neurovascular compromise
  • Shoulder dislocation
  • Compartment syndrome
  • Fractures and bone lesions
  • Infection
  • Tumours

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • List the visceral, metabolic, vascular mechanical, neurovascular, infective, rheumatologic and neoplastic causes of upper limb symptoms.
  • Discuss traumatic injuries and associated pathology.
  • Describe the clinical features of upper limb neuropathies and radiculopathy.

 

Unit 9: Lower Limb 

  • Visceral pain
  • Neurovascular compromise
  • Pediatric conditions
  • Compartment syndrome
  • Fractures and bone lesions
  • Infection
  • Tumours

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • List the visceral, metabolic, vascular mechanical, neurovascular, infective , rheumatologic and neoplastic causes of lower limb symptoms.
  • Discuss traumatic injuries and associated pathology.
  • List common lower limb pediatric conditions and associated pathology and diagnostic features.
  • Describe the clinical features of lower limb neuropathies and radiculopathy.

 

Unit 10: Systems Screening

  • Digestive system
  • Cardiovascular system
  • Respiratory system
  • Genitourinary system
  • Endocrine system
  • Medications
  • Clinical reference sheets

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Discuss the body systems approach to medical screening.
  • List the symptoms and signs of common disease processes affecting the digestive, respiratory, genitourinary, cardiovascular and endocrine systems. 

Study time:
Approximately 8 - 10 hours

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Instructor

Instructor Dr Jack Miller

BSc(PT), Dip MT(NZ), MClSc, DPT, FCAMPT

Dr. Miller completed his BSc in Physical Therapy at the University of Toronto. He then spent six years in New Zealand where he completed the Post-Graduate Diploma of Manipulative Therapy in 1984 being the first non-New Zealander to do so. During this program he had the opportunity to be directly mentored by both Robin McKenzie and Brian Mulligan. On returning to Canada, he went on to complete a Masters of Clinical Science at Western University in London and a Post-Professional Doctor of Physical Therapy Degree from the University of St. Augustine in the USA.

Jack has been the senior editor of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association’s Orthopaedic Journal, an executive member of the Orthopaedic Division of CPA, the President of the Canadian Academy of Manipulative Physical Therapy, a member of the CPA Specialization accreditation committee, the conference chair for IFOMPT 2012, and a founding member of the Mulligan Concept Teacher’s Association.

He has presented at conferences internationally, published research articles in peer-reviewed journals, multiple textbook chapters and taught high level, evidence-based manual therapy courses internationally since 1990.

Jack holds an academic teaching position at the University of Toronto is a co-director of Key Clinical Skills and works clinically as an Advanced Practice Physiotherapist triaging for fluoroscopy-guided spine injections procedures.