Survey of general practitioners' attitudes toward physical medicine and rehabilitation

This study reports the attitudes of general practitioners towards physical medicine and rehabilitation after participating in a continued medical education course in this field. Given the high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and number of disabled persons in the country, along with the role of general practitioners in the primary and long-term management of such patients, basic competency in rehabilitation medicine must be considered in the educational curriculum of medical students. Nevertheless, rehabilitation medicine is not taught in most universities. This study was performed to evaluate the attitude of general practitioners towards physical medicine and rehabilitation as a baseline for developing educational programs in this field. In a simple descriptive study, at the end of a continued medical education program in low back pain management, 217 questionnaires, focusing on the field of physical medicine and rehabilitation, were distributed between participants. One-hundred-and-forty-three questionnaires were analyzed. Statistical analyses were performed with descriptive and Student's t-test. The results showed that of the participants, 69 (48.3%) were female and that they graduated from 24 medical schools. Most respondents (92.2%) believed that musculoskeletal education had not been sufficient in general practitioner training courses. Of the respondents, 56.8% had visited at least one disabled patient during the previous month, while 11% had visited more than 10 in the same period, but 84.3% had not studied disabilities. Musculoskeletal physical examination was the most needed educational field cited by general practitioners. In conclusion, this study clearly documents the inadequacy of basic rehabilitation training in medical schools. The findings reveal the most needed and preferred rehabilitation areas for general practitioners, and these should be considered in the establishment of rehabilitation training programs for Iranian medical students.