Poster Board Number: 58
Title: Determining How Physical Therapists Get Their Information to Support Clinical Practice Objective: Physical therapists play a vital role in a patient’s outcome. It is important to be credible and to maintain ethical decision making by utilizing evidence-based information when making patient-management decisions and interventions. The aim of this survey-based study was to determine the sources that physical therapists depend on for information to support their clinical practice decisions. The study examined how various factors impact a practitioner’s information-seeking behaviors. Finally, the study examined how frequency of sources utilized today has changed since an earlier study.
Methods: An invitation to take the survey, a consent form, and instructions were sent out in electronic format as a link on the following American Physical Therapy Association email discussion lists: orthopedic, neurology, and pediatric sections. The Zoomerang online survey system captured responses from 197 subjects. The data were downloaded to a spreadsheet, and SPSS software, version 17, was used to complete data analysis, particularly descriptive statistics to characterize the responses.
Results: Among physical therapists practicing more than fifteen years, databases were used most often. Among physical therapists practicing less than fifteen years, colleagues were used most often. Therapists practicing in no or limited direct access states used journals and databases more often than therapists practicing in states with direct access. Therapists practicing with a bachelor's and/or master’s degree used journals and databases more often than therapists with a doctorate degree.
Conclusions: Physical therapists practicing longer are more likely to use Internet databases than colleagues or personal books. Physical therapists in states with no or limited direct access are more likely to use evidence-based sources compared to the states with full direct access. Clinicians with doctoral degrees are less likely to use evidence-based sources than clinicians who have a master’s or bachelor’s degree. A previous study reported colleagues as the most used sources, while journal articles are the most used source by physical therapists in the current study.
Authors: Judy F. Burnham, AHIP, Director, Biomedical Library; Dennis W. Fell, Chair; Dana M. Castjohn, Student; Jack M. Dockery, Student; Jena A. Smith, Student, Department of Physical Therapy; University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL
