Survey of burn education in entry-level physical therapy programs

We investigated the extent of burn education in entry-level physical therapy curricula and also collected information about oncology instruction. A questionnaire was sent to the directors of 96 entry-level physical therapy curricula, and 76 directors responded. Most of the respondents (98.7%) indicated that burn and cancer management warranted lectures. The programs that quantified instruction averaged 4.8 hours of burn-related medical and surgical lectures and 4.2 hours of burn-related physical therapy procedure lectures. The instructional time devoted to oncology was slightly less. Physicians presented the medical and surgical lectures in 36% of the curricula and provided instruction with physical therapists and nurses in 39% of the curricula. Physical therapists alone presented the lectures on physical therapy procedures in 83% of the curricula. Sixty-three percent of the respondents believed that new graduates could effectively treat both patients with burns and those with cancer, but other respondents attached various qualifiers to their responses. Some respondents thought that new graduates could not adequately treat patients with burns (12%) or cancer (8%). Suggestions for future physical therapy burn education are given.