Assessing the Standards of Physical Therapy Services

Assessing the Standards of Physical Therapy Services in Tertiary Care Hospitals in Peshawar

Author:  Mahboob-ur-Rahman

Int J Rehabil Sci, 2013, 2(2): 43

Abstract

Background: In many countries, the need for physical therapists to use standardized measures has been recognized and is recommended in clinical practice guidelines. A lack of follow up of international standards in daily practice may hamper rehabilitation services.

Objective: His study was carried out to assess the need for physical therapists to use standardized measures recognized internationally in clinical practices. Aim of our study was to investigate the Physiotherapy standard practiced by physical therapists in tertiary care hospitals in Peshawar.

Methods: To get a complete and valid overview of Physiotherapy standards, a checklist of modified Australian Physiotherapy standards were used. A facility based survey was conducted to evaluate the physiotherapy services in the hospitals having physiotherapy departments in Peshawar against each standard.

Results: Results indicated that overall core standards adopted by the tertiary care hospital are 63.4%. The risk management and patient information system is 0% in these hospitals. The overall equitable services are available but where less than 30% score is achieved from this study.

Conclusion: It was observed that lack of use of these international standards in daily practice may hamper rehabilitation services. It was seen that the facilities available in Peshawar falls into an average standard which needs enhancement to provide standard Physiotherapy services.

Keywords: Physiotherapy, Electrotherapy, Manual therapy, Health Education, Physical Therapists, Rehabilitation