The physiotherapy profession has emerged not only as an important medical and rehabilitation complement in health care delivery but also as a vital therapeutic tool with defined scientifically based protocols. In Nigeria, it is used as a prescription rather than as a referral, on a consultation basis, but its use as a prescription is gradually being discouraged in some developed countries. There seems to be a low level of awareness of this development, particularly in the developing countries.

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... his study was therefore designed to evaluate the physicians' mode of referral of patients for physiotherapy in Nigeria. A total of 1192 physicians participated in the survey, a 78 per cent response rate. They were required to complete a 22-item self developed closed-ended questionnaire using a sample of opportunity. The questionnaire obtained information on demographic data, educational attainment, university of graduation, year of graduation and mode of referral for physiotherapy. A total of 1054 (88.4%) respondents agreed that physiotherapists were trained enough to make clinical decisions on the treatment of their patients and 678 (56.9%) referred patients for physiotherapy. Of the respondents who agreed that physiotherapists are trained well enough to make clinical decisions on the treatment of their patients, 786 (74.6%) graduated from universities that also have a physiotherapy training programme. The majority 442 (68.2%) of these respondents and 603 (79.4%) of the respondents who received some form of lectures in physiotherapy during their medical training or whose universities had a physiotherapy training programme did not include prescriptions in their referrals.