Clinical Foundations for the Primary Care PT: Initial Evaluation and Decision Making

Course overview

Clinical Foundations for the Primary Care PT: Initial Evaluation and Decision Making is an online self-study course for physical therapists. This is the first course in a series designed to help physical therapists shift their mindset from traditional rehabilitation toward primary neuromusculoskeletal care management. The course begins with an introductory overview of the 2025 consensus definition which covers the fundamentals of the scope of primary care PT, as well as the care settings, operational workflows, and cultural/financial considerations. After learning the basics, participants will be exposed to a clinical decision making framework which helps them take the basic skills of intake, subjective interviewing, differential diagnosis and care navigation to the expert level, making the initial evaluation process more efficient and diagnostically accurate. A novel 3B chief complaint exploration process is combined with established methods such as the SINSS, OSPRO, and others, to offer a more complete subjective framework for understanding the patient and the problem they present with. This approach is designed to improve confidence and competence as well as documentation strategies when initial evaluation time slots are shorter or the general work pace is faster. This course dedicates nearly 3 hours to diagnostic decision making related to imaging, diagnostic labs, and pharmacology as they relate to physical therapist practice, while providing options to further enhance these competencies with other advanced courses, such as RHEs Musculoskeletal Imaging Certification. The decision-making skills modules are followed by focused reviews of medical pathologies which mimic NMSK conditions, such as vascular claudication or visceral referral, as well as complex NMSK conditions which require specialist referral, such as fracture or cervical myelopathy. Participants will move on to review visceral pathophysiology and immunology which lays the groundwork to discuss the physical therapist's role in the co-management of NMSK dysfunction related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including heart disease, hypertension, COPD, cancer, autoimmune disease, and others. Participants will be challenged to determine the most appropriate early management pathways for various case presentations, including imaging/lab considerations, evaluating the consequences of delay, and most appropriate settings and professionals to refer to. The course culminates with a module dedicated to interdisciplinary communication and collaboration, an essential, yet undervalued skill for all clinicians.