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In subsequent updates on coronavirus infections, there is no point in looking for physiotherapists among the medical staff. So the physiotherapists calculated themselves. The results are not optimistic.
- Despite repeated appeals from the KIF and numerous assurances that physiotherapists will be included in this list, subsequent data updates still did not provide information on how many physiotherapists fell ill with the coronavirus
- The National Chamber of Physiotherapists conducted a survey on a nationwide, representative sample of over 2000 physiotherapists on coronavirus cases
- The study showed that every sixth physiotherapist in Poland has been or is infected with coronavirus
- You can read more of such stories on the Onet homepage
The Ministry of Health publishes data on the infected, sick, quarantined and fatal victims of the coronavirus among healthcare professionals. Unfortunately, there are no physiotherapists in these official statistics.
Physiotherapists did their own thing
The National Chamber of Physiotherapists decided to fill this information gap with reliable data and at the peak of the second wave of cases on November 6-12 conducted a survey on a nationwide, representative sample of over 2000 physiotherapists. It is worth emphasizing that these data are of a different nature than the data of the Ministry of Health. They were developed on the basis of completed questionnaires and their answers to over a dozen detailed questions.
The results of the study show that coronavirus infection was diagnosed in more than 16 percent. Polish physiotherapists, which means that compared to all Poles, physiotherapists are infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus more often. The estimated number of infections among the representatives of our profession is over 11.
Physiotherapists get sick more often than representatives of other professions. This is due to the specificity of working with the patient – in the case of physiotherapists, it is characterized by exceptionally long (usually over 30 minutes, and often about 60 minutes), close and direct contact with the patient. None of the other medical professions work like this with patients.
The highest risk of infection concerned physiotherapists employed in residential rehabilitation departments, nursing homes and schools, and the lowest – people working in private offices and conducting home physiotherapy. This may indicate that the virus is transmitted by other employees of these entities, such as support staff.
Physiotherapists as the most likely source of infection most often indicated contact with a sick patient (27,9%), followed by contact with a sick colleague / colleague (15,1%) and infection from one of the household members. (6,8%). It is worth adding, however, that nearly half of the physiotherapists who became infected could not clearly determine where the source of the infection might have come from.
See also: 4 thousand Polish nurses do not work in their profession. Why is no one hiring them?
The positive information is that 99,2 percent. physiotherapists who were confirmed to have coronavirus, did not require a hospital stay during treatment, which indicates a relatively mild course of the disease.
Compared to other professional groups, there are also no reports of further fatalities among physiotherapists, except for one, which was the first death due to COVID-19 among medical professions in Poland. This is favored by the fact that in our local government, unlike doctors or nurses, the majority of people are relatively young (average age 36), leading a healthy lifestyle, and not in the group of people most at risk of severe infection.
Nearly 22 percent of people have been in compulsory quarantine since the epidemic began. physiotherapists (more than 15 people), including about 4 percent. twice or more.
At the same time, it is worth emphasizing that in places where physiotherapy takes place, a special sanitary regime has been introduced and these are places that meet all safety requirements and are safe for patients.
See also: The mutations of the virus do not matter much
The results of the survey, conducted with the use of modern Internet tools, with the great involvement of analysts and KIF experts, provide local government representatives with further arguments for talks with the Ministry of Health. Physiotherapists risk their health by treating others: both those who require rehabilitation for other conditions, and those who require support during and after illness caused by COVID-19. Coronavirus should be entered on the list of occupational diseases also in the case of physiotherapistsand work allowances should be extended to all people working with covid patients.
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