Next week is the IFOMPT conference in Basel, where I’ll be working with colleagues to facilitate a series of activities that aim to formulate a discussion document on the topic of generative AI in physiotherapy education and practice.
Pre-conference survey
Over the past few months, I’ve been working closely with Veronika Schoeb, Guillaume Christe, and Anita Hartmeier to prepare the outline of what would become a series of linked activities running through the conference. This formally started about a month ago with a pre-conference survey shared to conference registrants, asking them to answer three questions:
- Imagine practice and / or education in 10 years’ time – What does it look like, given the current trends in generative AI?
- What is the greatest opportunity for practice and / or education, in the face of rising competence of generative AI?
- What are your concerns around the use of generative AI in the profession?
We took the responses to those open-ended questions and created the following overlapping themes:
- Integration of AI in clinical practice
- Shift in educational methods towards personalised and adaptive learning
- Enhanced diagnosis and treatment planning
- Improved patient outcomes and personalised care
- Enhanced learning experiences and knowledge accessibility
- Improved efficiency and time management
- Over-reliance on AI and loss of critical thinking
- Data privacy and security
- Reduced human touch and empathy
- Job displacement and changing roles
Pre-conference workshop
These themes are informing our planning for an unconference-type, all-day workshop taking place on the 3rd of July. The aim of the workshop is to discuss the topics above – and potentially others as well – in as much depth as possible. We’d like to capture the collective thinking of everyone in the room, exploring the full range of opportunities, risks, and challenges that this emerging technology introduces to the profession.
Through small group dialogue, debate, and creative activities, participants will expand on the previously identified themes and questions. The workshop will culminate with each group proposing strategies to maximise opportunities and minimise risks from generative AI in physiotherapy practice and education.
We also wanted to get a more nuanced perspective from a wider range of colleagues, so we’re running an online survey from now until the end of the conference, to capture input from as many physiotherapists as possible.
Focused symposium
After the pre-conference workshop, I’ll be working with Cliffton Chan, Doris Chong, and Emmanuelle Opsommer, to prepare an outline for a focused symposium on the 5th of July, where we’ll present summaries of the discussion from the workshop, and invite further exploration of ideas.
Key insights from the pre-conference surveys and workshop will be presented at the focused symposium during the conference itself. This symposium will summarise survey results and workshop outputs, connecting them to produce a synthesis of community perspectives on generative AI. The symposium will also include panel discussions to further explore tensions, trade-offs and open questions.
Discussion document
The outcomes of the pre-conference and in-conference surveys, workshop, and symposium will help inform the development of a public discussion document. The aim of the document will be to stimulate conversation and engagement around the topic of generative AI in physiotherapy education and practice. Anyone will be able to comment on the drafting of the discussion document, which we will ultimately share as an open-access resource to the community.
If you’re interested in being involved in any of these activities, whether you’re attending the conference or not, please do get in touch through the Contact page on the site.