Stuart Porter's book covers the key issues - thanks to feedback from University of Salford students

Physiotherapy lecturer Stuart Porter may have to build a new bookshelf to accommodate his latest book alongside his nine existing publications in the field.

When 'The Student Physiotherapist's Companion: A case-based test-your-knowledge guide’ is published by Elsevier later this year, it will be the tenth book in Stuart’s impressive writing career.

In his latest work, Stuart believes he has filled a previously unmet gap in the market – by giving students the opportunity to access information from patient cases and learn how to process it in clinical settings.   

Stuart, who is based at the University of Salford, says his new book offers readers a wide range of clinical case studies, many based on real-life patient scenarios. These presentations will encourage them to develop and explore their own problem-solving skills and compare their answers with the options and plans supplied by experts in the particular topic being featured.

Stuart explains: ‘I am particularly excited about this book as it reveals the thought-process of clinical world leaders and professional interest groups when assessing patients and building their therapy pathways. This gives students the chance to have a real “insider” view from field specialists." 

Physiotherapy students have to develop acute clinical reasoning skills early on in their studies. Undergraduate students and their educators alike often find this to be particularly challenging.

The book will cover core areas of musculoskeletal, neurology and respiratory care along with looking at issues such as brain injury, women's and men's health, occupational health, animal physiotherapy, oncology and pain management.

The content is targeted at both undergraduate and pre-registration MSc physiotherapy students. To promote learning, each case study is assigned a difficulty level ranging from easy to hard. 

Ensuring the book covered as much ground as possible was a labour of love for Stuart. ‘This ended up being a much larger book than I originally envisaged –  encompassing a greater breadth of topics and ultimately better reflecting the need for physiotherapy today.’

The book will be grounded in the real world of clinicians and reinforced by the input from a strong academic team. This includes the universities of Liverpool, Preston, Manchester, Keele, London, Coventry, Leicester, Brighton, UCL, Nottingham, and Georgia (USA). This international perspective might inspire students with a yen to work beyond our shores.

The publication is already attracting interest from hospitals that host students on placements and from various Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) professional networks, such as the Association for Chartered Physiotherapists in Respiratory Care and the Physiotherapy Pain Association. 

In an article appearing on the University of Salford’s website, Stuart highlights the importance of using students’ feedback to assess whether the content is addressing unmet needs and in collecting further insights on what is lacking.

‘This is crucial to supply content which is approachable, understandable and offers real and tangible solutions. Several students from the [university’s] physiotherapy programme were involved in this project, and some even feature on the book’s front cover!’

'The Student Physiotherapist's Companion: A Case-Based Test-Your-Knowledge Guide' is scheduled for publication later this year by Elsevier and will be available via Amazon.