How We’re Keeping Our AI Guidance Current in a Changing Landscape 

When we first released our Artificial Intelligence — Principles for Physiotherapists guidance a year ago, AI was an emerging technology.  

At the time, we were hearing from physiotherapists who were curious about using it in their work and looking for advice on how to do so responsibly.  

Just a year later, AI tools are now increasingly becoming embedded in many practitioners’ day-to-day work. We know adoption is still uneven across the health-care system, but things are changing fast. We want to make sure the guidance we offer stays timely and helpful, so we revisited this issue, scanned our environment for updates, and made some slight adjustments to best support you. 

In this blog, I’ll walk you through the changes and detail how we’ll work to keep pace with technology and practice.  

AI Use in Practice 

Most people equate AI in health care with documentation – think AI scribe tools. But we know AI is showing up throughout the patient journey – before, during and after visits, even shaping the questions patients bring with them to appointments.   

Physiotherapists are using AI tools to:  

• Assist with online forms or screening questions during booking or intake 

• Send patients to the right service during triage 

• Support documentation – using AI scribes to draft notes or document the visit 

• Help with home exercise programs – sending reminders, gathering updates from the patient or guiding exercises 

Understanding the Environment 

Before making any adjustments to the guidance, we completed a comprehensive review to better understand how our regulatory colleagues in Ontario and similar jurisdictions were addressing AI and considered additional content including white papers and other publications. We continue to conduct environmental scans on a weekly basis to stay on top of any changes.  

So, what did we learn?  Well, the core responsibilities of health-care professionals remain largely unchanged, but there’s been a slight shift in how we articulate them. While our guidance was generally well-positioned and new principles have not yet emerged, precise language and explicit examples are important to help solidify understanding and support integration.  

What Doesn’t Change 

AI may change how some parts of care are delivered, but it does not change who remains responsible. The technology may be new, but the accountability is not.  

Physiotherapists are still responsible for:  

• Clinical judgment  

• Meeting privacy requirements 

• Proper documentation 

• Delivering safe care 

Updates to the Guidance 

Advancements in AI may change how physiotherapists approach some aspects of their work such as documentation, care between visits, patient updates or exercise tracking.  

The guidance has been updated with more specific language and practical examples including: 

• Updated terminology to recognize that AI integration is shifting from emerging to embedded 

• Practical “Quick Checks” associated with each principle in the existing TRUST acronym to help promote physiotherapist accountability and responsibility 

• More specific actions for each TRUST principle, with a focus on: 
  • Clarifying transparency obligations to build and maintain patient trust 
  • Shifting from bias and limitation awareness to management of these risks 

I invite you to review these changes in the updated guidance and share any feedback by leaving a comment on this post.  

And if you haven’t already, consider watching a recording of the Ontario Physiotherapy Association’s webinar we participated in – AI and Physiotherapy in Ontario: Current Trends, Opportunities, and Considerations.   

Questions? 

We also know there will be questions as AI evolves and integration increases. We are here to support you on this journey, and we will continue to make regular updates to our guidance. 

If you have any questions, please call the Practice Advisors at 1-800-583-5885 extension 241 or email advice@collegept.org.