Physiotherapy in a Hospital Setting

In a hospital setting, physiotherapists provide both inpatient and outpatient services. The term inpatient refers to people who are admitted to hospital requiring overnight stay. The term outpatient refers to people who are attending an appointment only and not staying overnight in the hospital.

Physiotherapists work with both inpatients and outpatients with a variety of conditions, injuries and impairments. Some examples of conditions that physiotherapists can help include persistent pain, heart and lung disease, amputations, arthritic joints, burns, traumatic workplace injuries, athletic injuries, motor vehicle accident injuries, stroke, brain injury, spinal cord and nerve injury, cancer, pre and post surgical education and rehabilitation, pregnancy needs, and impaired urinary function. Physiotherapists are also leaders on the subject of disease prevention, including the prevention of illness related to obesity.