Background and Objective: The pathological conditions of hand are barriers to work and affect the daily activities. Physical therapists are responsible for assessment, planning treatment goals and providing treatment to the patients. But, there is no standard of hand function assessment to used in health service.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey research. The samples were 336 physical therapists who has at least 1 year working experiences in government hospitals and were selected by multi-stage sampling. The researchers sent the letters of request to the sample group to respond to the questionnaire by mail. They can choose answering either online or paper-based questionnaire and sent it back by mail within 2 weeks due date. The questionnaire, validated by 3 experts for content validity, has 2 parts: 1) characteristics of respondents, and 2) questionnaire or instrument for hand area assessment of patient.
Results: Of 366 questionnaires sent, 155 (34.23%) with completed responses were returned. The most common musculoskeletal disease at hand was Carpal tunnel syndrome. The top 3 frequently used assessment tools were goniometer (38.30%), pain scale (30.40%) and muscle manual testing (27.00%). The most common neurological disease at hand found was stroke and the top 3 frequently used assessment tools were hand function test (27.80%), muscle manual testing (24.30%), and the Barthel activity of daily living index questionnaire (17.40%).
Conclusion: Various assessment tools for hand function were used by physical therapists. Therefore, standard tools for hand function assessment should be determined to support quality patient care with shared standard information.
