Referral to physiotherapy as part of a general practitioner's management of back pain.
The aim of this survey was to investigate how general practitioners (GPs) manage their back pain patients and if they refer them for physiotherapy. The research instrument was a self-administered postal questionnaire. This was sent to 580 GPs, one quarter of the GPs in the Republic of Ireland. Two hundred and ninety three questionnaires (n=293)were returned, which constituted a 50.5% response rate. Two hundred and sixty one questionnaires (n=261) were usable. The main findings of the study were that the respondents consider that physiotherapy has a major role in the management of back pain. However there was limited availability of physiotherapy for the GPs' public patients. One hundred and thirteen GPs (over 43% of respondents) have referred back pain patients to alternative practitioners for manipulation. One hundred and forty four respondents (52%) believe that physiotherapists should not treat back pain patients without the patient first consulting their doctor.
Cremin
M C
MC
Abbey House Medical Centre, Navan, Co Meath.
Finn
A M
AM
D001416:Back Pain / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005194:Family Practice; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D026761:Physical Therapy Specialty; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires