Survey of Orthopaedic Residents' Exposure to Physical Therapy during Residency

The purpose of this study was to assess orthopaedic surgery residents' exposure to physical therapy in their training to date. A questionnaire was sent to 30 orthopaedic residents at two residency programs in Kentucky. The residents' clinical and didactic exposure to physical therapy, their knowledge of the therapist's educational background, the significance of physical therapy to their orthopaedic patients, and their confidence in the therapist's skills were assessed by the questionnaire. Twenty five of the residents responded and frequency distributions were used to assess the data. Twenty-one residents had no courses or in-services in medical school or residency that discussed how physical therapy is useful to their patients, yet only 13 residents perceived an inadequacy in their knowledge of physical therapy. The residents were well-informed of the therapist's educational background, yet 6 residents believed that the education for a therapist was insufficient to enable the therapist to choose a specific treatment for orthopaedic patients. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 1986;7(6):335-338.