AWARENESS OF PHYSICAL THERAPY AS A PROFESSION AMONG PRE-MEDICAL STUDENTS OF PRIVATE AND GOVERNMENT COLLEGES

OBJECTIVE To determine the awareness and perception of Physical Therapy as a career among the intermediate students of Karachi. STUDY DESIGN It is a cross sectional study. STUDY SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS The settings of this study were two Private and two Government sector Intermediate colleges, offering Pre-medical and participants were students studying in these colleges. SAMPLING TECHNIQUE Non-probability convenience sampling technique. RESULTS Results revealed that only 13.5% of students were well aware of physical therapy as a profession in government and private colleges whereas, 31% in government colleges and 26.5% in private colleges had little knowledge. While 28% government and 30.5% in private were totally unaware of it. 75.7% and 83.5% from government and private sector students responded that physical therapy will be most rewarded in Orthopedic/Musculoskeletal fields respectively. CONCLUSIONS The awareness of Physical Therapy as a career among intermediate students would help in creating more effective marketing strategies. Unfortunately, a small percentage of the students are aware of physiotherapy and the services provided by this profession which implies that there is an urgent need for marketing campaign.