Tanja Yardley and Allan Macdonald on the Future of Physiotherapy

Expert Series: Episode 8 with Tanja Yardley and Allan Macdonald

We sat down with Tanja Yardley & Allan Macdonald to discuss the Future of Physiotherapy including the impact of technology, the value of building your business skills & how to be involved as a leader in our profession.

As physiotherapists, we spend years learning how to treat the human body and focus a lot of energy, effort and time on our clinical skills. However, there are many other skills that we can develop to contribute to our professional growth individually and as a collective group.

Tanja observed that the healthcare system is changing quickly and in the next 10-15 years we are going to see advancements that we cannot even imagine right now.

A great analogy is if you picture rolling a snowball down a hill. It may start off as only a tiny snowball, but as it rolls downward it gains momentum and accumulates more and more snow. When it finally settles at the bottom of the hill it’s a snowball big enough to marvel at.

Al stated that technology will either augment what we do, un-touch what we do or replace what we do. It's in our best interest as physiotherapists to be involved in the decision making process of how technology will be used in our profession. 

Al also brought up the jobs to be done theory by Clayton Christensen and that if we choose to see innovation through a new lens we will see new ways to create value for our patients and our profession.

Finally Al and Tanja discussed the value of being a member of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association. Some key points included:

• Exposure to thought leaders
• The opportunity to have input into the future of our profession
• Having a unified voice as physiotherapists 
• The ability to affect change together.