PHYSIOTHERAPY AWARENESS IN MEDICAL AND NON MEDICAL POPULATION: A SOCIAL MEDIA SURVEY

Abstract

Background: Physiotherapy is one of the oldest branches of healthcare profession which is concerned with holistically rehabilitating the patient. In recent years, the field has evolved rapidly providing evidence based quality health services. Inspite of people awailing physiotherapy services its awareness to a certain extent appears to be less. The purpose of this study was to find level of awareness of Physiotherapy among medical professionals and general population. Materials and Methods: A semi structured, self-administered questionnaire was prepared on Google Forms with open and close ended questionnaire. They were circulated among medical and general population via social media, accessible to all for a period of one week. The data was calculated automatically by Google spreadsheet. Results: 103 people from medical and 153 people from general population filled the questionnaire.90% of medical professional and 78% of general population knew physiotherapy field. Both groups were aware about specialties of Physiotherapy. However awareness was less in specialty such as Cardiovascular and pulmonary conditions, Plastic surgery, Oncology and Post-surgery physiotherapy in both the populations. Conclusion: There is a dire need to take measures to improve awareness of the field and its specialties. Education program should be done on large scale to improve the knowledge and perception of Physiotherapy among medical and general population