National quality assessment questionnaire for physiotherapy centres: a pilot study in Lebanon

Lebanon still lacks a unified platform upon which private physiotherapy practitioners can base and apply their knowledge and practice. Accreditation of physiotherapy centres would promote collaboration, boost consistency and enhance quality of services. The Order of Physiotherapists in Lebanon is called on to provide a high quality of service by focusing on standards.

The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and applicability of a standard for the quality assessment of physiotherapy centres, and to assess the current status of a sample of centres in Lebanon.

A questionnaire was developed by a panel of experts based on a review of international and national requirements in physiotherapy centres. A set of 14 items was generated covering 3 categories: qualifications of the team, facility and environmental status, and data collection and analysis. A pilot study was conducted from December 2013 to February 2014 in 6 Lebanese physiotherapy centres. Descriptive statistics are reported.

The highest median score and compliance score for the 6 centres were reported for the "Facility and environmental status" category (median = 8.0) and the lowest were reported in the "Data collection and analysis" category (median = 5.0).

Further studies are needed to validate the quality assessment in physiotherapy centres questionnaire, and to implement it as a primary tool for assessing quality standards and for accreditation of physiotherapy centres.