Table 2.
Practitioner and practice response to the COVID-19 pandemic (n = 2050)
| Overall n (% yes) | Australia n (% yes) | Canada n (% yes) | Denmark n (% yes) | Hong Kong n (% yes) | UK n (% yes) | USA n (% yes) | Others n (% yes) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Changes within practice setting in response to the COVID-19 outbreak | ||||||||
| Increased disinfecting of treatment table/equipment* | 1942 (94.7%) | 270 (96.8%) | 704 (97.2%) | 131 (85.6%) | 61 (88.4%) | 447 (96.1%) | 301 (91.5%) | 28 (90.3%) |
| Increased disinfecting of high contact areas* | 1934 (94.3%) | 264 (94.6%) | 711 (98.2%) | 146 (95.4%) | 57 (82.6%) | 436 (92.8%) | 293 (89.1%) | 27 (87.1%) |
| Increased disinfecting/cleaning of my hands* | 1920 (93.7%) | 265 (95.0%) | 704 (97.2%) | 134 (87.6%) | 69 (100%) | 435 (93.5%) | 289 (87.8%) | 24 (77.4%) |
| Providing patient hand sanitiser* | 1909 (93.1%) | 269 (96.4%) | 724 (95.0%) | 144 (94.1%) | 62 (89.9%) | 449 (96.6%) | 266 (80.9%) | 31 (100%) |
| Social distance patient seating* | 1828 (89.2%) | 246 (88.2%) | 690 (95.3%) | 142 (92.8%) | 40 (58.0%) | 405 (87.1%) | 277 (84.2%) | 28 (90.3%) |
| Change spacing patient bookings* | 1629 (79.5%) | 186 (66.7%) | 663 (91.6%) | 98 (64.1%) | 23 (33.3%) | 416 (89.5%) | 223 (67.8%) | 20 (64.5%) |
| Protective screen added to reception desk* | 1202 (58.6%) | 81 (29.0%) | 549 (75.8%) | 117 (76.5%) | 36 (52.2%) | 270 (58.1%) | 134 (40.7%) | 15 (48.4%) |
| Care restricted to urgent/emergency cases* | 805 (39.3%) | 67 (24.0%) | 370 (46.0%) | 75 (49.0%) | 9 (13.0%) | 202 (43.4%) | 73 (22.2%) | 9 (29.0%) |
| Patient care stopped* | 764 (37.3%) | 230 (17.6%) | 351 (48.5%) | 34 (22.2%) | 1 (1.4%) | 246 (52.9%) | 71 (21.6%) | 12 (38.7%) |
| None of the above | 10 (0.5%) | 0 (0.0%) | 3 (0.4%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 2 (0.4%) | 4 (1.2%) | 1 (3.1%) |
| Government/regulator advice on practitioner use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in response to COVID-19 (n = 2058) | ||||||||
| Wearing cloth/standard surgical mask* | 1755 (85.3%) | 188 (67.4%) | 670 (92.2%) | 134 (87.6%) | 65 (94.2%) | 407 (87.2%) | 289 (80.7%) | 23 (74.2%) |
| Wearing face and/or eye shielding* | 969 (47.1%) | 23 (8.2%) | 82 (11.3%) | 9 (5.9%) | 31 (44.9%) | 82 (17.6%) | 66 (19.9%) | 8 (25.8%) |
| Wearing new disposable gloves during treatment* | 723 (35.1%) | 44 (15.8%) | 90 (12.4%) | 3 (2.0%) | 50 (72.5%) | 440 (94.2%) | 88 (26.5%) | 8 (25.8%) |
| Wearing protective garments/clothing* | 673 (32.7%) | 15 (5.4%) | 180 (24.8%) | 0 (0.0%) | 10 (14.5%) | 427 (91.4%) | 39 (11.7%) | 2 (6.5%) |
| Wearing N95 respirator/mask* | 301 (14.6%) | 23 (8.2%) | 82 (11.3%) | 9 (5.9%) | 31 (44.9%) | 82 (17.6%) | 66 (19.9%) | 8 (25.8%) |
| None of the above were advised* | 86 (4.1%) | 46 (16.5%) | 15 (2.1%) | 2 (2.9%) | 2 (2.9%) | 5 (1.1%) | 12 (14.1%) | 23 (74.2%) |
| Not sure what was advised* | 61 (3.0%) | 23 (13.6%) | 8 (1.1%) | 1 (0.7%) | 1 (1.4%) | 8 (1.7%) | 19 (5.7%) | 1 (3.2%) |
| Implementation of advised use of personal protective equipment (PPE) for chiropractors (n = 2025)* | ||||||||
| Yes, all that were advised (when available) | 1611 (84.8%) | 150 (58.8%) | 603 (83.3%) | 138 (91.4%) | 64 (97.0%) | 405 (86.9%) | 233 (70.2%) | 18 (58.1%) |
| Yes, some of what was advised | 253 (12.9%) | 40 (15.8%) | 93 (12.8%) | 10 (6.6%) | 1 (1.5%) | 48 (10.3%) | 55 (16.6%) | 6 (19.4%) |
| Never or rarely | 161 (2.3%) | 65 (25.5%) | 28 (3.9%) | 3 (2.0%) | 1 (1.5%) | 13 (2.8%) | 44 (13.3%) | 7 (22.6%) |
| Government/regulator advice on patient use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in response to COVID-19 (n = 2057) | ||||||||
| Wearing cloth/standard surgical mask* | 1697 (82.5%) | 160 (57.8%) | 649 (89.3%) | 135 (88.2%) | 66 (97.1%) | 380 (81.4%) | 286 (85.9%) | 21 (65.6%) |
| Wearing face and/or eye shielding* | 189 (9.2%) | 11 (4.0%) | 35 (4.8%) | 34 (22.2%) | 42 (60.9%) | 37 (7.9%) | 28 (8.4%) | 2 (6.3%) |
| Wearing an N95 respirator/mask* | 119 (5.8%) | 10 (3.6%) | 23 (3.2%) | 6 (3.9%) | 31 (44.9%) | 18 (3.9%) | 29 (8.7%) | 2 (6.3%) |
| Wearing new disposable gloves during treatment * | 114 (5.5%) | 2 (0.7%) | 14 (1.9%) | 0 (0.0%) | 41 (59.4%) | 42 (9.0%) | 11 (3.3%) | 4 (3.5%) |
| Wearing protective garments/clothing | 61 (3.0%) | 0.0 (0.0%) | 17 (2.3%) | 0 (0.0%) | 3 (4.3%) | 38 (8.1%) | 3 (0.9%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| None of the above were advised* | 209 (10.2%) | 76 (27.3%) | 54 (7.4%) | 7 (4.6%) | 2 (2.9%) | 48 (10.3%) | 14 (4.2%) | 8 (25.0%) |
| Not sure what was advised* | 94 (4.6%) | 32 (11.5%) | 12 (1.7%) | 1 (0.7%) | 1 (1.4%) | 23 (4.9%) | 24 (7.2%) | 1 (3.1%) |
| Implementation of advised use of personal protective equipment (PPE) for patients (n = 2016)* | ||||||||
| Yes, all that were advised (when available) | 1524 (75.6%) | 128 (52.2%) | 597 (82.2%) | 138 (91.4%) | 64 (95.5%) | 350 (75.6%) | 230 (69.1%) | 17 (54.8%) |
| Yes, some of what was advised | 165 (8.2%) | 24 (9.8%) | 51(7.0%) | 5 (3.3%) | 2 (3.0%) | 32 (19.4%) | 47 (14.1%) | 17 (54.8%) |
| Never or rarely | 327 (16.2%) | 93 (38.1%) | 78 (10.7%) | 8 (5.3%) | 1 (0.3%) | 82 (24.8%) | 56 (16.8%) | 10 (32.3%) |
| Approach to care recommended for patients presenting with COVID-19 or similar flu-like symptoms (n = 2056)* | ||||||||
| Avoid treatment until after testing -ve or after quarantine for at least 2 weeks if + ve | 1698 (82.6%) | 239 (86.3%) | 612 (84.4%) | 111 (72.5%) | 60 (87.0%) | 414 (88.7%) | 238 (71.5%) | 24 (75.0%) |
| Advise to avoid treatment until after their symptoms passed | 237 (11.5%) | 20 (7.2%) | 87 (12.0%) | 37 (24.2%) | 3 (4.3%) | 40 (8.6%) | 45 (13.5%) | 5 (15.6%) |
| Provide treatment using additional protective measures | 90 (4.4%) | 16 (5.8%) | 19 (2.6%) | 4 (2.6%) | 4 (5.8%) | 8 (1.7%) | 39 (11.4%) | 1 (3.1%) |
| Provide treatment without additional protective measures | 19 (0.9%) | 1 (0.4%) | 4 (0.6%) | 0 (0.0%) | 2 (2.9%) | 4 (0.9%) | 7 (2.1%) | 1 (3.1%) |
| Not sure what to do | 12 (0.6%) | 1 (0.4%) | 3 (0.4%) | 1 (0.7%) | 0 (0.0%) | 1 (0.2%) | 5 (1.5%) | 1 (3.1%) |
| Use of teleconferencing/telehealth before the COVID-19 outbreak began (n = 2051)* | ||||||||
| Yes | 107 (5.2%) | 12 (4.3%) | 20 (2.8%) | 9 (5.9%) | 2 (1.9%) | 35 (7.5%) | 28 (8.4%) | 1 (3.2%) |
| Use of teleconferencing/telehealth since the COVID-19 outbreak began (n = 1947)* | ||||||||
| Yes | 515 (26.5%) | 33 (12.4%) | 176 (25.0%) | 24 (16.7%) | 1 (1.5%) | 196 (45.4%) | 76 (25.0%) | 9 (29.0%) |
| Percentage of patient consultations provided through teleconferencing during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak (n = 621)* | ||||||||
| More than 75% | 157 (25.2%) | 3 (6.7%) | 39 (20.0%) | 4 (12.1%) | 1 (33.3%) | 35 (7.5%) | 28 (8.4%) | 2 (20.0%) |
| Between 50–75% | 19 (2.9%) | 1 (5.6%) | 5 (2.8%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 7 (3.0%) | 5 (4.8%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| Between 25–50% | 29 (4.7%) | 2 (4.4%) | 7 (3.6%) | 2 (6.1%) | 1 (33.3%) | 8 (3.5%) | 9 (8.7%) | 0 (0.0%) |
| Between 1–25% | 263 (42.4%) | 34 (75.6%) | 105 (53.8%) | 23 (69.7%) | 1 (33.3%) | 52 (22.5%) | 45 (43.3%) | 3 (30.0%) |
| Not in practise during peak | 154 (24.8%) | 5 (11.1%) | 39 (20.0%) | 4 (12.1%) | 0 (0.0%) | 84 (36.4%) | 17 (16.3%) | 5 (50.0%) |
| A lack of third-party financial funding as barrier to the use of teleconferencing during COVID-19 (n = 2042)* | ||||||||
| No | 1154 (56.6%) | 160 (57.8%) | 468 (65.3%) | 129 (84.9%) | 52 (75.4%) | 156 (33.5%) | 174 (52.7%) | 15 (46.9%) |
| Yes | 328 (16.1%) | 56 (20.2%) | 113 (15.8%) | 14 (9.2%) | 4 (5.8%) | 48 (10.3%) | 90 (27.4%) | 3 (9.4%) |
| Not relevant (all care is fully patient funded) | 560 (20.6%) | 61 (10.9%) | 136 (19.0%) | 9 (5.9%) | 13 (18.8%) | 261 (56.1%) | 66 (20.0%) | 14 (43.3%) |
| Independent guidelines needed for public health procedures for manual therapy practitioners (n = 2053)* | ||||||||
| No, same guidelines for all healthcare practitioners | 936 (45.6%) | 103 (37.1%) | 332 (45.8%) | 88 (58.3%) | 51 (75.0%) | 176 (37.7%) | 175 (52.7%) | 11 (34.4%) |
| Yes | 848 (41.3%) | 138 (49.6%) | 276 (38.1%) | 51 (33.8%) | 15 (22.1%) | 240 (51.4%) | 113 (34.0%) | 15 (46.9%) |
| Unsure | 269 (13.1%) | 37 (13.3%) | 117 (16.1%) | 12 (7.9%) | 2 (2.9%) | 51 (10.9%) | 44 (13.3%) | 6 (18.8%) |
Some items with missing data ranging from 1 to 11 respondents, *P < 0.001