VARIANCE IN THE PHYSIOTHERAPIST WORKFORCE AMONG DIFFERENT INCOME LEVELS IN MEMBER ORGANISATIONS OF WORLD PHYSIOTHERAPY

P.-Y. Lee¹, H. Kosakowski²

¹National Cheng Kung University, Department of Physical Therapy, Tainan, Taiwan, ²World Physiotherapy, London, United Kingdom

Background: Physiotherapy is a profession critical for developing, maintaining, and restoring movement and function after injury, illness, or disability. World Physiotherapy is the global body for physiotherapy associations and aims to strengthen the profession through targeted support to its members. World Physiotherapy member organisations (MOs) represent the profession at a national level in five regions across the globe. Expenditure on healthcare could affect the physiotherapist workforce in a country or territory. Income level can represent a country’s economic condition and healthcare expenditure. However, the relationship between physiotherapist workforce, a country’s income level, and the estimated need for rehabilitation services is unclear and warrants analysis.

Purpose: This study investigated the physiotherapist workforce across MOs of World Physiotherapy with different income levels across three years and its relationship with the estimated need for rehabilitation services.

Methods: Data from the World Physiotherapy annual membership census (AMC) for 2019-2021 were used to conduct the analysis. AMC data contains information collected from all MOs of World Physiotherapy on the status of the profession at the national level. The data was used to calculate the workforce as the number of physiotherapists per 10,000 population in a country/territory. Analyses were conducted on MOs by dividing them into four income levels according to the classification defined by World Bank in 2021. Furthermore, the estimated need for rehabilitation services in an individual country was obtained from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) website. Two-way ANOVA with factors “income level” and “year” was used to compare the differences of the physiotherapist workforce. The relationship between the physiotherapist workforce and the estimated need for rehabilitation services was examined using Pearson correlation. The significant level was set at p<0.05.

Results: There were 105, 122, and 125 MOs in World Physiotherapy in 2019, 2020, and 2021 respectively. Among all the MOs, there were 56, 29, 26, and 14 in high, upper-middle, lower-middle, and low-income levels, respectively, in 2021. The results exhibited no significant difference among the three years (p=0.859), nor interaction between income level and year (p=0.604), but significant difference among the income levels (p<0.001). Post hoc tests showed a significantly higher workforce in high-income MOs than in upper-middle, lower-middle, or low-income MOs (p<0.001). In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between the physiotherapist workforce and the estimated need for rehabilitation services (p<0.001).

Conclusions: A larger physiotherapist workforce was observed in countries/territorieswith high-income levels. The estimated need for rehabilitation services was positively associated with the physiotherapist workforce. A standard number of physiotherapists per 10,000 population has not been established to meet the estimated need for rehabilitation. However, understanding the interaction between the physiotherapist workforce and country/territory income level can help identify where to target advocacy efforts and prioritize healthcare expenditures.

Implications: The larger the physiotherapist workforce in a country/territory, the greater the number of individuals who can benefit from physiotherapy services. By understanding the physiotherapist workforce, country/territory income level, and estimated need for rehabilitation, MOs can identify and prioritize areas that need strengthening.

Funding acknowledgements: The authors thank Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affair for partially financial support.

Keywords:
physiotherapist workforce
country income level
estimated need for rehabilitation

Topics:
Globalisation: health systems, policies & strategies

Did this work require ethics approval? No

Reason: The study addresses developments in management, policy and resources.