Investigation of the Knowledge and Awareness Level of Healthcare Professionals Working in the Department of Child Health and Diseases About Early Period Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Practices

Aim: Early rehabilitation applications are an approach that should be initiated in risky babies as soon as they are born. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the knowledge and awareness level of healthcare professionals working in the departments and units of the Department of Child Health and Diseases about” Early Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Practices” (EPRP) in risky infants and to examine the early physiotherapy and rehabilitation intervention procedures available in these units.
Materials and Methods: Information awareness about "Early Period Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Practice" was evaluated with an 11-item questionnaire prepared for 57 health professionals working in the Department of Child Health and Diseases.
Result: Neither Center has an active neonatal physiotherapist. Only if necessary, the physiotherapist provides treatment with consultation to teach the family only joint range of motion exercises. It was determined that 70.17% of the healthcare professionals had no or insufficient information about EPRP. It was found that the most therapeutic positioning among EPRP modalities was used in the neonatal intensive care unit. It was reported that health professionals stated that the EPRP to be applied to risky babies in the intensive care unit is necessary (80.70%) and a neonatal physiotherapist (82.45%) is needed to perform these applications.
Conclusions: Caring about early physical therapy practices in newborns and positioning neonatal physiotherapists to serve in these units will fill a clinically important gap.
Key words: Early physiotherapy and rehabilitation applications, Early intervention,
Awareness, Risky baby, Healthcare worker, Newborn, Intensive care