Patient awareness of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

Full Abstract

The present study examined the extent to which patients referred to a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) could correctly identify the name or essential scope of the specialty the physiatrist practiced. The hypothesis, based on the author's experiences as a staff physiatrist, was that most patients would not be aware of the name and scope of the specialty of physical medicine and rehabilitation. This prospective study involved the administering of a questionnaire to 202 consecutive referrals to a University-affiliated PM&R outpatient clinic. Of the respondents, 19% were able to correctly identify that the physician they were referred to was either a PM&R specialist, a physical medicine specialist, a rehabilitation specialist or a physiatrist. Among the incorrect responses, orthopedist, neurologist and rheumatologist were most prevalent, and 33% of the respondents thought the physiatrist performed surgery. The implications of the findings are discussed. There continues to be a need to educate the public about the scope of practice of physiatry.

Author information

Author/s: Finestone, H M (HM);

Affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, University of Western Ontario, University Hospital, London, Canada.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation / Association of Academic Physiatrists (Am J Phys Med Rehabil), published in UNITED STATES. (Language: eng)

Reference: 1992-Oct; vol 71 (issue 5) : pp 288-90

Dates: Created 1992/11/05; Completed 1992/11/05; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 1388976, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

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