Knowledge of Physiotherapy among Final Year Students Faculty of Medicine in Universities at Khartoum State, Sudan

Abstract

Background: The knowledge of the physiotherapy profession for future doctors is important, They must have a good knowledge about physiotherapy to be able to work in an intra-disciplinary team to achieve optimal patient care. Objectives: To investigate the knowledge of physiotherapy among final year students that study medicine in universities at Khartoum State. To determine the sources where they get their knowledge about physiotherapy. To investigate the extent of student's awareness of physiotherapy. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted, with a total of 330 participants, who are final year students studying medicine from different universities at Khartoum State. An online questionnaire designed via Google form consists of a 29-item closed-ended questionnaire. It was sent to participate in their batch group chat. The data was collected and statistically analyzed. Results: This study showed that there was a lack of awareness about physiotherapy specialties, specifically Cardiopulmonary, Oncology, Pediatrics, Geriatrics and Women's Health. Also, the results found there was a misconception about physiotherapy practitioners. 44.5% of respondents believed that massagers are one kind of physiotherapy practitioners. 87.9% of participants thought that physiotherapists can not be first-contact practitioners. A majority of participants did not acquire knowledge about physiotherapy from their university. Conclusion: The findings indicated that final-year students do not have complete awareness of physiotherapy. The results also showed that the common sources of information are the Internet and social media. It is recommended that students studying medicine should be given education about physiotherapy and it can be integrated into their study.