Adebayo Funke
In Nigeria, general veterinary doctors objected to physiotherapists assuming the responsibility of being supplementary prescribers. It is unknown if Nigerian specialist doctors (Orthopaedic Surgeons and Neurologists) will have different opinion on supplementary prescription (SP) policy. 71 orthopaedic surgeons and 53 neurologists were recruited using purposive sampling technique. A self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain bio-data, awareness on SP, knowledge about Clinical Management Plan and duration of educational training required. Descriptive and non-parametric inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. The level of significance was set at 0.05. The number of specialist doctors who were aware of the prescription status of physiotherapists outside Nigeria as supplementary prescriber was significantly higher than those unaware (X2 = 9.96, P = 0.02),. A high proportion (62.3 - 98%) of the specialists had good knowledge of Clinical Management Plan as required in SP policy. About half of the Orthopaedic Surgeons opined that 24-30 weeks educational training would be adequate for physiotherapists who did not have previous pharmacology education while most neurologists opined that a period greater than 12 weeks would be sufficient as training duration for those with previous education. It was concluded that most specialist doctors were aware of the prescription status of physiotherapists outside Nigeria as supplementary prescribers. Both Orthopaedic Surgeons and neurologists understood what are required in drawing CMP with allied health professionals as required in the policy. A period greater than 12 weeks would be sufficient for educational training for those who had previous pharmacology education while 24-30 weeks would be adequate for those without previous formal education.
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