IMPACT OF COVID - 19 ON PHYSICAL THERAPIST IN THAILAND

Abstract

COVID - 19 pandemic impacted various aspects of healthcare organizations and healthcare professionals. For example, the shortage of healthcare workers created workload pressure, increased work hours, fatigue, and the risk of infecting and contagious family members, even themself, which caused distress and burnout among healthcare professionals. Physical therapists or physiotherapists (PTs) are essential participants in the healthcare profession who have the primary role in the rehabilitation and the impact of this pandemic. In this study, the researcher aimed to indicate the impact of COVID-19 on physiotherapists in terms of differentiation and transformation before and after COVID - 19 pandemic and, describe how COVID - 19 influences physical therapists’ s, perspectives, attitudes and provide insight into the experience and opinion of physiotherapists who work as a front - line during the COVID - 19 by using a qualitative method which allows the author to gather richer information, opinion, and experience from 5 physical therapists who worked in Thailand government hospitals. Moreover, no study explores the perspective and experience of Thai physical therapists in their work during COVID - 19 pandemic and includes their suggestions that influence future challenges for healthcare professionals.