Clinicians' perspectives and usage of rehabilitation technology: a survey.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate clinicians' perspectives regarding their usage of rehabilitation technology in their day-to-day practice and uncover the factors that impact clinicians' use of rehabilitation technology in their daily practice.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: An online survey was used to gather cross-sectional data from American occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, physical therapists, physical therapy assistants, and speech language pathologists. This survey used Likert-scale, multiple choice, and free-response questions.

RESULTS: Approximately half ( n  = 56/105, 53.3%) of our clinicians reported using rehabilitation in their daily practice. Less than 20% ( n  = 18/105, 17.1%) of the respondents strongly agreed that they felt comfortable implementing new rehabilitation technology, and few reported that their workplace encouraged ( n  = 16/85, 18.8%) or strongly encouraged ( n  = 14/85, 16.5%) the use of rehabilitation technology in practice. Additionally, excluding the 2011-2020 graduate clinicians that reported that they had not learned about rehabilitation technology in school or fieldwork, few reported feeling prepared ( n  = 14/97, 14.4%) or very prepared ( n  = 4/97, 4.1%) to use rehabilitation technology after graduation.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings have revealed a sizable knowledge-to-practice gap in regard to clinicians' preparedness to engage with and advocate for rehabilitation technology in their day-to-day practice.