Physiotherapists’ views regarding accessibility of Parkinson disease patients to physiotherapy centers

Abstract

Introduction: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease mainly characterized by motor defects such as tremor and postural instability. The number of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) is increasing in all aging societies. This population requires immediate physiotherapy management to maintain and improve their quality of life. The aim of study to explore physiotherapists’ views about the barriers facing Parkinson’s patients on access in centres of physiotherapy in Al-Zawia city, Libya. Method: An exploratory qualitative study is design to explain physiotherapists’ views. Twenty physiotherapists from seven physiotherapy centres were approached individually and invited to participate. Participants were interviewed and asked about their experiences with Parkinson's patients.  Result and discussion there are barriers in the communication with elderly Parkinson's patients and also, the doctors with physiotherapists, lack of access (referral) and poor awareness of doctors about physical therapy role as one of the barriers, the economic part of barriers that limit patient’s access to the center because as expensive private facilities, and long-term treatment plans with slow improvement lead to a lack of patient's access to the center, on other hand patient fell bored from ong treatment, beside the patients mood that effected in patients treatment such as anxiety and depression, while the anxiety is the most mood disorder . All of these factors and others led to frequent missing sessions and limiting patients’ access to physiotherapy centres. Conclusions: The study found that there were gaps in communication between patients, physiotherapists, and physicians. And there lack of patient access in the physiotherapy centres because of poor referral and awareness/knowledge about the benefits of physiotherapy programs for patients with PD. Another issue the study found there was the high cost of the therapy sessions and long-term program compared with the low level of improvement that made patients discontinue their treatment.