Challenges and Future Development of Physiotherapy Education in Nepal

Background: Globally, the culture of health care has been changing.The health professionals must have the best available education and training to improve the health outcomes. Good education is a backbone for an effective physiotherapy intervention and good patient care. Physiotherapy education has evolved widely in developed countries whereas in Nepal, the education has started very recently and the recognition is still under a question. Objectives: To investigate the challenges of Physiotherapy education and to address the strategies Methods: A modified Delphi method was used to obtain information from key informants involved in the area of physiotherapy education in Nepal. In 1st round, an open ended questionnaire on challenges and strategies of Physiotherapy education in Nepal was sent to 20 key informants via email. In 2nd round, themes were listed , ranked in a likert scale and was mailed to the respondents. In 3rd round, the compiled final likert scale responses was mailed to the respondents for further comments. Results: Fifteen out of twenty informants completed all three rounds of Delphi survey. The important challenges highlighted were lack of awareness, lack of job opportunities, lack of leadership of governing bodies, lack of retention of staff, lack of continuous professional development and lack of mentoring. Conclusions: It is concluded that physiotherapy education in Nepal at its initial phase, needs a strong governing policy and leadership to facilitate a rightful place in the health team.