A survey of current physical therapy practices in wound care

Few standardized treatment protocols are available to guide physical therapists through the rapidly changing area of wound care. To assess current physical therapy practices and to determine relationships between specific demographic data and evaluation/intervention techniques utilized in wound care, a questionnaire was developed that used a Likert scale (1 to 5) for responses, offering choices from "always" to "never." The questionnaire was sent to physical therapists at 170 clinical sites used by the University of Mary Program in Physical Therapy in Bismarck, ND. The final return rate was 48.1%. The most commonly used evaluation and intervention techniques were determined. Use of the rubor of dependency test, sharp debridement, enzymatic debridement, compression dressings, and autolytic debridement was found to have a significant (P < .05) relationship to the reported percentage of compromised wound care patients in a clinician's practice; whereas, years of clinician experience has a significant (P < .05) relationship to the use of monofilament testing and the use of electrical stimulation. Reasons for the differences observed, including the role of guidelines, need to be explored.