Factors affecting the extent of utilization of physiotherapy services by physicians in Saudi Arabia.
Mansour Abdullah Alshehri, Hammad Alhasan, Mohamed Alayat and 7 others
PMID 29545681WHAT IT FOUND
92.6% of surveyed Saudi physicians were confident referring patients to physiotherapists, but 55.5% lacked enough service information and 55.3% thought physiotherapists lacked skills and knowledge.
They wanted more detail about what physiotherapy can provide.
Key findings
0192.6% of physicians were confident referring patients to physiotherapists, but 55.5% said they lacked enough information about physiotherapy services.
02The most common perceived barrier was doubt about physiotherapists' skills and knowledge to assess and treat patients (55.3%), followed by physicians' limited knowledge of available services (44.5%).
03Physicians' overall attitudes towards physiotherapy were slightly low (53.5%), despite 85.2% agreeing physiotherapy has a vital role in secondary care.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Physicians were recruited through social media, so they may not represent all Saudi physicians. The study asked about self-reported attitudes and beliefs, not actual referral behaviour or patient outcomes. The questionnaire's reliability was modest, especially for the barrier items (0.529). Most respondents were male and Saudi, and the paper does not report response rate or physician specialties.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this study proves poor referrals cause worse patient outcomes. It measured physicians' self-reported attitudes and perceived barriers in Saudi Arabia, not actual referral records or patient recovery.