DETERMINING THE EFFICACY OF PHYSICAL THERAPY SERVICE LEARNING AT A HOSPITAL IN VIETNAM: A NEEDS ASSESSMENT STUDY

J. Beling¹, B. Aoyama¹, T. Duong L. Jacobson¹, J. Katz¹, A. Maglalang¹

¹California State University, Northridge, Physical Therapy, Northridge, California, United States

Background: A physical therapy (PT) department in a rehabilitation hospital in Vietnam and an American non-governmental organization (NGO) developed a partnership with the intention of enhancing the hospital’s program in rehabilitation by recruiting volunteers to work with local hospital physiotherapists and staff. American physical therapist volunteers are recruited to work together with Vietnamese students and hospital staff. Activities include lectures, clinical training, didactic instruction, program development, and mentoring.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was
1) to identify the hospital’s continuing education needs and
2) to evaluate the efficacy of four pairs of volunteers' continuing education lectures and labs.

Methods: A pretest-posttest study with a Likert scale was conducted by four volunteer pairs to determine the effect of volunteers' lectures/labs at the Da Nang Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Hospital. Four requested lectures/labs were given by the volunteers at the facility over a two-week period in January of 2020. The educational topics requested by the staff were:
(1) rehabilitation after total knee replacement surgery,
(2) respiratory rehabilitation for COPD,
(3) bowel and bladder training and treatment of autonomic dysreflexia after spinal cord injury, and
(4) functional tenodesis in patients with spinal cord injury.
All participants attended one or more of the lectures. Participants’ responses were assessed regarding change in knowledge, interest, and level of comfort in treating patients after attending at least one of the lectures. The results of pre- and post- survey data were analyzed utilizing the IBM SPSS Statistics 25 - Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test in order to evaluate for statistical differences between pre- and post-test Likert-Scale responses.

Results: Forty-one individuals who met inclusion criteria consented to participate in the pre-survey. Of these participants, over half identified themselves as physical therapists (n=25, 60.9%), 26.8% (n=11) as medical doctors, and 12% (n=5) as nurses. A significant increase in perceived knowledge, comfort, value and plan to implement gained knowledge was identified after the Total Knee Replacement lecture while a significant increase in interest and plan to implement gained knowledge was found after the Tenodesis lecture. Both the Bowel and Bladder and COPD lectures did not reveal any statistically remarkable results. Final post-survey open-ended questions revealed a desire primarily for education on Spinal Cord Injury, while the greatest request of the staff was for an ongoing relationship with the volunteers.

Conclusions: This study identified relevant performance gaps in the volunteer rehabilitation program including deficits in communication with the hospital staff regarding specific lecture material to match the education level of the staff, as well as a further need for active participation during lecture sessions to keep the participants engaged. In addition, the study found barriers to teaching because of cultural events occurring during the time of the lectures.

Implications: The surveys yielded strengths and weaknesses of the volunteer program and how best the NGO can partner with the program. Further, the study serves as a stepping stone for continued development of the profession of physical therapy in Vietnam; striving to meet the international standard.

Funding acknowledgements: Grant funding was provided by California State University, Northridge and the Borchard Foundation.

Keywords:
physical therapy
volunteering
global health

Topics:
Education: clinical
Education: continuing professional development
Education: methods of teaching & learning

Did this work require ethics approval? No

Reason: According to 45 CFR 46.101(b).2. This research involving the use of survey or interview procedures is exempt because: a) information obtained is recorded in such a manner that subjects can not be identified, directly or through identifiers linked to the subjects and b) any disclosure of the human subjects' responses outside the research will not reasonably place the subjects at risk of criminal or civil liability or be damaging to the subjects' financial standing, employability or reputation.