University of the Witwatersrand physiotherapy undergraduate curriculum alignment to medical conditions of patients within Gauteng state health facilities.
Mokgobadibe V Ntsiea, Witness Mudzi, Nicolette Comley-White and 8 others
PMID 30135907WHAT IT FOUND
In Gauteng state hospitals, physiotherapists most commonly treated lower limb fractures, stroke and soft tissue injuries.
The Wits curriculum covered almost all listed conditions; stress and laryngectomy were not explicitly covered. It allocated hours to common conditions.
Key findings
01The most common conditions treated by physiotherapists in Gauteng state hospitals were lower limb fractures (13%), stroke (7.6%) and soft tissue injuries (7.1%).
02Almost all conditions on the Gauteng physiotherapy patient statistics were included in the Wits curriculum; only stress and laryngectomy were not explicitly covered.
03Teaching timetables allocated hours to common conditions, including 30 of 41 third-year neurology hours to stroke and 30 of 38 fourth-year cardiopulmonary hours to ICU patients.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
This was a record review, so the authors could not control how hospital statistics were developed, submitted or collated. Data were expected from 30 facilities, and 25 facilities' data were used. The study looked only at Gauteng state health facilities and one university curriculum, so it does not describe all South African physiotherapy training or practice settings. National district health information system data were not used because they did not capture many physiotherapy-specific morbidity conditions. The paper reports condition frequencies from administrative statistics, not patient outcomes or treatment effects.
Declared interests
No funding or conflicts-of-interest declaration is provided in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this curriculum audit shows graduates are clinically competent or that patients benefit from the curriculum. It only checked whether conditions recorded in Gauteng state hospitals appeared in one university's curriculum and timetables.