This national survey aimed to provide practical data on how PT profession is perceived by other healthcare professions, regarding their roles within healthcare settings.
A national online survey was conducted in 2024. The survey questions were validated by experts in this field and the survey was spread online to non-PT healthcare professionals ( such as doctors, nurses, radiologists), working at different levels of care, such as tertiary hospitals, community health centers, rehabilitation hospitals, Chinese medicine clinics etc. All valid data was collected and analyzed.
A total of 750 respondents from 31 provinces in China provided valid answers. The majority of correspondents were female (75.5%), under 35 years old (67.8%), with less than 5 years clinical experience (62.4%), holding a minimal of bachelor degree (97.6%), and working at a tertiary hospital (68.3%). Only 29% of correspondents stated that they knew PT profession very well, and nearly half had never received PT services (43.5%). Over one third of the correspondents (38.9%) never referred their family and friends to see a PT, and even nearly one third (28.5%) did not agree that PT is a healthcare profession. In addition, 41.7% of correspondents did not know the differences between PT and rehabilitation therapists, and less than half of the correspondents (42.4%) believed that a qualified PT was required to hold a minimal of bachelor degree. In terms of inter-disciplinary practice, only 14.7% of the correspondents stated that there was no barriers to receive PT services, and over a half (56.9%) had difficulties in working with PT. Moreover, one third (34.0%) agreed that a PT could see a client without a referral by a doctor. With regard to the understanding of practice scope of PT, less than one third (28.4%-19.9%) of the correspondents knew very well about the interventions (such as exercise therapy, manual therapy, education) that PT can deliver, and even less (24.3%-15.1%) knew very well about the areas (such as musculoskeletal, neurological, cardiorespiratory, pediatric, geriatric) that a PT can practice. Lastly, when been asked which healthcare professional you would see first when you have low back pain, only 30.7% of correspondents chose PT.
PT profession is not well perceived by other health professionals in China. Promotion of PT profession among healthcare professionals is urgent in China.
Immediate measures should be taken by PT organizations, education committees, and clinical management to improve the awareness of PT profession, in terms of their practice scope and expertise, and to eliminate the barriers of multi-disciplinary collaboration in Chinese healthcare system.
Inter-disciplanary Practice
Professional Development
