Knowledge, attitude and practice behavior regarding blood pressure among physical therapists of twin cities

Abstract

Background: Blood pressure (BP) monitoring has a very crucial role in physical therapy for accurate evaluation and re-evaluation of the patient, otherwise it can lead to inaccurate clinical decision making and the patient may be falsely diagnosed. It is an important cardinal sign that cannot be neglected in making clinical decision, may put the individual to a greater risk of cardiovascular and other health problems. Objective: to explore the knowledge, attitude, and practice behavior regarding BP among physical therapists (PT) of twin cities. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in 6 months, from January 2019 to June 2019 in different hospitals of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The data was collected from n=296 PT of twin cities after obtaining the written consent. The data of knowledge, attitude and practice behaviors towards BP was collected by semi structured questionnaire. The results were presented in table and graph while description was given as Mean ± SD and f (%). Results: The mean age of study participants was 28.4±3.71 years. The overall mean score of knowledge (4.27±3.05) showed that n=159(53.72%) participants in the study have poor knowledge about the information related to BP. While attitude score (19.74±.2.29) showed that majority of the sample n=179(60.47%) have positive attitude towards the importance of BP evaluation during assessment, management and educating the patient. While observing the behaviour, mean score (14.55±4.78) showed that physical therapist has acceptable behaviour towards the BP measurement. But frequency distribution showed that n=160(54.05%) physical therapist has poor behaviour towards BP measurement during their practice. Conclusion: The knowledge and practice behavior regarding the BP assessment and evaluation among the physical therapist is very poor, while their attitude is positive towards the importance of BP evaluation during assessment, management and educating the patients. Keywords: Blood pressure, inpatient clinic, outpatient clinic, physical therapy.