Objective: Autonomic dysreflexia is a clinical syndrome that affects people with spinal cord lesions at or above the sixth thoracic vertebral level (T6). This study aims to determine the level of knowledge about autonomic dysreflexia among nurses and physiotherapists involved in spinal cord rehabilitation.
Design: Single-center survey study.
Setting: This was conducted at a rehabilitation hospital.
Outcome measure: : Autonomic dysreflexia knowledge test.
Participants: Nurses (N = 36) and physiotherapists (N = 32) working at a local rehabilitation hospital participated in this study.
Results: In the autonomic dysreflexia knowledge test, the nurses obtained an average score of 6.63 ± 2.2 and the physiotherapists obtained an average score of 6.87 ± 1.89; there was no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). Less than 25% of the participants had experience with autonomic dysreflexia and the test scores of the participants with this experience were significantly higher (P < 0.001).
Conclusion: Similar to previous studies, the knowledge level of autonomic dysreflexia among nurses and physiotherapists working in rehabilitation hospitals was low. We think that there is a need for internationally standardized training programs to increase the knowledge level of autonomic dysreflexia for patients, caregivers, and health professionals.
Keywords: Autonomic dysreflexia; Knowledge; Nurses; Physiotherapists; Spinal cord injury.