International journal of emergency medicine
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Worldwide, emergency department (ED) attendances and admissions to acute care have increased significantly. Many EDs are adding physiotherapists to their team thereby allowing doctors to see more cases that are 'urgent'. This is a move away from the 'traditional' physiotherapy service whereby the ED team refers patients to an outpatient physiotherapy service sometimes resulting in significant delays. Internationally, there is no agreed consensus on the role or value of ED-based physiotherapists. ⋯ This review adds an in-depth human perspective to the current ED physiotherapy literature, which provides insight into how ED healthcare services and physiotherapy services specifically should be developed and delivered in the future. The knowledge from this review has implications for future education programmes, as well as development of both new care pathways and physiotherapy clinical roles. Research into ED-based physiotherapy services is predominantly quantitative. Despite the newness of the ED physiotherapy role, this review reveals that the provision of physiotherapists within EDs contributes value to both patients and staff. However, the dominance of Australian research means it is uncertain how it translates to the UK or elsewhere. There needs to be further UK-based research.