Leadership and Professional Identity in Physiotherapy and the Allied Health Professions: A Scoping Review and an Interview Study of NHS Clinicians

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who want a plain-language account of what the current literature reports about leadership in physiotherapy and the allied health professions, including clinicians with no management title, clinical leads, educators, and managers.

Licensed physical therapists and physical therapist assistants in any setting; also relevant to other allied health clinicians, clinical educators, and rehabilitation managers.

Intended audience

Physical Therapy

Level

Intermediate

Delivery format

Online, asynchronous, self-paced course: interactive reading with audio or video, and a scored post-test.

Based on

Hales P, Achour N, King O, Engward H. Elevating the allied health professions workforce: leadership’s role in shaping professional identity. BMC Health Serv Res. 2026;26(1). doi:10.1186/s12913-026-14064-6

Ferrando-Margelí M, Suárez-Serrano C, Garay-Sanchez A, Marcén-Román Y. Leadership and physiotherapy: A scoping review. Heliyon. 2024;10(11):e32054. doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e32054

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. Describe the four interrelated concepts that the allied health interview study reported as explaining how leadership strengthens or constrains a collective professional identity.
2. Name the leadership characteristics that the physiotherapy scoping review reported as most valued by physiotherapists, and state which of Bolman and Deal's four frames it reported as least used.
3. Distinguish where the two papers agree on what leadership involves from where they differ on who exercises it, including what each reported about clinicians who hold no management title.

1. Start Here: The Question This Course Answers
2. Part One: Leadership and Collective Identity Across the Allied Health Workforce
3. Who Was Interviewed and Why the Question Was Asked
4. How the Interviews Were Conducted and Analysed
5. Four Concepts That Shaped a Shared Identity
6. What the Authors Concluded, and What the Study Could Not Reach
7. Part Two: What Leadership Means in Physiotherapy
8. The Physiotherapists Counted in the Scoping Review
9. How the Review Searched and Framed Its Findings
10. The Characteristics Physiotherapists Valued Most
11. The Least-Used Frame and What the Reviewers Concluded
12. Bringing It Together
13. Where the Two Papers Agree on What Leadership Involves
14. Where They Diverge on Who Exercises Leadership
15. What This Could Mean for a Clinician Without a Management Title
16. What Neither Paper Settles
17. Key Takeaways
18. Post-Test and Course Evaluation

Quinn Millington, PT, DPT, ECS is the instructor of record: the licensed clinician who reviewed this course and signed off on it. The name and credentials print on the certificate.

Disclosures. This course was developed by The ConEd Solution, which has a financial interest in its sale. No outside funding or sponsorship was received. The instructor of record has no affiliation with the authors of the source publication or their institutions.

This course awards 1.0 contact hour (60 min). How you earn them:

1. Complete the course. Every lesson, in order.
2. Pass the post-test. Score 80% or higher. Retakes are allowed.
3. Complete the evaluation. A short form rating each learning objective and the course.
4. Download your certificate. It is issued on completion and stays available in My Account.

The episode time is its measured length. Reading, post-test and evaluation times are estimates.

This course is designed to satisfy the quality requirements state boards set for continuing education. Requirements vary by state, and confirming that a course fits your renewal is up to you. Each state’s own acceptance statement is in the credit panel on this page.

1. Hales P, Achour N, King O, Engward H. Elevating the allied health professions workforce: leadership's role in shaping professional identity. BMC Health Serv Res. 2026;26(1). doi:10.1186/s12913-026-14064-6
2. Ferrando-Margelí M, Suárez-Serrano C, Garay-Sanchez A, Marcén-Román Y. Leadership and physiotherapy: A scoping review. Heliyon. 2024;10(11):e32054. doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e32054