International Journal of Research in Social Sciences

With the expansion of physiotherapy career, physiotherapists are expected to work more on the community'sneed and to endure in health care system, internship programs are increasingly becoming an integral part of any professional degree particularly in physiotherapy program to produce highly qualified and well prepared physiotherapist to meet thoseexpectations. The objective of this study was to assess and report on the perceived satisfaction level of physiotherapy interns and faculty members regarding the physiotherapy internship program.

In total 83 interns and 63 faculty members from King Abdulaziz Medical City, Ministry of National Guard (KAMC-NGHA), King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH&RC) and King Fahad Medical City Hospital (KFMC), Riyadh participated in this cross sectional study. Measurements included researcher-administered andself-report questionnaires on five point Likert scale. Two sample t-tests were used to analyze the difference between the two groups. A p - value of less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.

The result revealed overall interns'and faculty satisfaction with the program. The faculty members had more concern with regards to method of instruction being employed in the training program. Result indicated a difference in the perception on the domain of instructions in three institutions whereas no statistically significant difference on the level of satisfaction with feedback and evaluation was found.

In conclusion students’ and faculty members satisfaction with their internships was found to be related to feedback and evaluation of the internship experience and the assistancereceived from institution. Based on the results of this study, some implications were identified for the institutions for improvement in teaching and evaluation system and related formal training programs are recommended.