Private Physiotherapy: Characteristics of a Sample of Practitioners and Their Practices

Responses to a questionnaire by 71 private practitioners indicated that the average practitioner was aged 38~6, graduated in 1967, had worked professionally for 14.8 years of which 8~8 years were spent in private practice. Some respondents (19 per cent) owned multiple practices, 48 per cent employed other therapists and 30 per cent had specialised practices. The average practice treated 93 patients a week in 40 minute consultations. The average respondent used 2.5 techniques from other areas of health care and owned 8 machines. Doctors referred 88 per cent of patients but 47.5 per cent of practitioners reported good effects from first contact status. Membership of professional associations was high. Female therapists were more likely to practice part-time and had less affiliations with comnJunity groups.

Private practice provides the second largest area of employment for physiotherapists in Australia. A survey of Australian physiotherapists by the Department of Labor and Immigration (1975) found that 30 per cent of respondents were in private practice. Until recently little has been known about the nature of and variety of private practices or the characteristics of private practitioners. Such information is important not only for appreciating the present state of this area of professional practice but also for establishing a data base against which future changes and developments may be evaluated. Since the present study was carried out the National Private Practitioners' Group have published preliminary findings of a survey of private practices operated by members of the group (Australian Journal of Physiotherapy 1983). These indicate the type and location of practices, staffing and numbers of treatments. The first aim of the survey was to gather information regarding the characteristics of private practitioners, in New South Wales, particularly their professional histories and education. 152

LESLEY McLOGHLIN Lesley McLoghlin, B.App.Sc. (Phty), has conducted her own and worked in other private practices in Victoria. She is currently physiotherapist in the Student Health Unit at Macquarie University, Sydney. MARY WESTBROOK

Mary Westbrook, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in psychology in the Department of Behavioural and General Studies, Cumberland College of Health Sciences, Syd ney.

The second aim was to investigate features of private practices, the management techniqijes and technology used and the referral of patients. The third aim of the survey was to find to what extent recent developments in the profession of physiotherapy and recent changes in attitudes toward health care had had an impact on private practice. The first author has been involved in private practice since 1971. In working as a locum since 1975 her impression has been that the above changes have influenced private practice. The developments which have occurred in the profession include the introduction of the bachelor degree and of post-graduate diplomas and degrees, the establishment of the Australian College of Physiotherapy, the growth of specialization (Cole 1983) and the establishment of physiotherapists as first contact practitioners. We were interested in what percentage of practitioners regarded their practices as specialist practices and what proportion of specialists had post-graduate qualifications. What effect had the introduction of first contact practice had on private practice?

The AustralIan Journal of PhySIotherapy Vol 30, No 5, October, 1984

Changing attitudes toward health care have also occurred in the last decade. There has been increasing emphasis on the psychological and social factors involved in the causation of and recovery from illness (eg Lynch 1979, Totman 1979). This is reflected in the changing educational curricula. In New South Wales physiotherapy students now receive 360 hours instruction in behavioural science. Phrases such as 'healthy life style', 'preventative medicine', considering the patient's problem 'holistically' are heard with increasing frequency and reflect these changing attitudes. Popular discontent with narrow symptombased approaches to patients' problems is said to be a major cause of the dramatic growth of alternative medicine. It is estimated that 8 per cent of health consultations in Australia are now made to alternative practitioners (Rice 1983). Physiotherapists indicated their awareness of these attitudes in their responses to the survey on public relations carried out by the Australian Physiotherapy Association (1980). When asked 'What worries you most about the future of

Private Physiotherapy

physiotherapy in Australia?' the most frequent reply was that chiropractors were taking over traditional areas of physiotherapists' work. The second commonest response among private practitioners was concern about competition from alternative forms of health care. Most physiotherapists (96 per cent) who answered the questionnaire felt that the community was poorly informed about physiotherapists' skills. Most (93 per cent) believed that community education programmes were needed and 84 per cent said that they would like to see physiotherapists promoting themselves more in the community. We were interested in the degree to which such attitudes had influenced private practice. How many private practitioners had promoted their public image by establishing links with community groups? To what extent were practitioners adopting a broader based approach in the techniques they used with patients? Was there a tendency for practitioners to undertake further studies in areas in which chiropractic might be considered to be more of a threat? A fourth aim of the study was to investigate whether differences existed between the practices of male and female practitioners. The survey by the Department of Labor and Immigration (1975) found that 43 per cent of physiotherapists who were employed part-time worked in private practice. The majority of part-time workers were women. This suggests that private practice is attractive to female therapists with family commitments. Private practice is also considered an attractive career option for maies because of the possibility of earning greater remuneration than in hospital settings. Thus the motives that attract male and female therapists to private practice may differ. Such differences could be reflected in the style of practices established and in the professional histories of practitioners. Male students in physiotherapy have been found to be more ambitious

regarding the career status they hope to achieve (Westbrook, N ordholm and Walker 1979). It was hypothesized that male private practitioners would be more ambitious than female practitioners and that this would be reflected in the following ways: males would be more likely to have several practices, to have specialized practices, to have spent less time working part-time in private practice, to have post-graduate qualifications, to be enrolled in further study, to be using more new treatment approaches, to have formed more affiliations with community groups and to be members of the Private Practitioners' group.

Method Subjects As all private practitioners do not belong to the Private Practitioners' Group it was decided that the best method of obtaining a representative sample would be to use listings in telephone directories. The subjects were selected from the listings of physiotherapists in the Sydney metropolitan phone directory and all country telephone directories for New South Wales. Every second practitioner was selected giving a sample of 199 of whom 139 (70 per cent) were practising in the Sydney area and 60 (30 per cent) in other parts of New South Wales. Seventy-one (36 per cent) of the questionnaires were returned. Sixty-one per cent of these came from Sydney and 38 per cent from country areas and 1 per cent did not indicate the location of the practice. Twentytwo respondents were males and 49 were females. The low response rate raises doubts concerning the representativeness of the sample. Test Material A questionnaire of 32 questions was devised (See Appendix). These questions were concerned with practitioners' biographic details, professional and educational histories, details of their practices, the management techniques and technology they used, and

the referral of patients to their practices. Procedure Questionnaires were mailed to respondents in May 1983 with a covering letter which explained the aim of the survey. The questionnaire was returned anonymously. Frequencies of responses were tabulated and converted into percentages; where appropriate, means, standard deviations and ranges were calculated. Comparisons were made between male and female responses to items 9, 14, 25, 28, 30 and 32 using chi-square analyses and to items 6 and 22 using t tests for independent groups. The alpha level was set at 0.05.

Results and Discussion The response rate to the survey was only 36 per cent. It is difficult to assess how representative the private practitioners who returned the ques~ tionnaire are, therefore considerable caution must be exercised in general~ ising the results. However many areas of physiotherapy practice in Australia examined by the questionnaire have not been explored before. Thus it was felt that the responses of this sample of seventy-one private practitioners are of interest and value particularly in suggesting areas for future research. Detailed information regarding the responses to individual items in the questionnaire are presented in the appendix. The main results are discussed below. Characteristics of respondents The average respondent in the sample was 38.6 years of age, had graduated in 1967 and had worked as a physiotherapist for 14.8 years. The majority of the practitioners had graduated with diplomas of physiotherapy but 25 per cent were bachelors of applied science or bachelors of science with post-graduate diplomas in physiotherapy. The average respondent had spent 8.8 years in private practice; 3.2 of these years involved part-time

The AustralIan Journal of PhysIOtherapy Vol 30, No.5, October, 1984

153

Private Physiotherapy

employment. While 69 per cent of respondents were female the percentage of male physiotherapists (31 per cent) was much higher than the proportion of males in the profession overall. The 1975 survey of physiotherapists (Department of Labor and Immigration) found that 13 per cent of respondents were males. Later Glendenning (1982) also reported that 13 per cent of registered practitioners were males. Thus the belief that male physiotherapists are more likely than females to establish private practices is supported by the relatively high proportion of males in this sample. It is of interest that of the 63 physiotherapists employed by the private practitioners in the current survey 13 per cent were males~ There does not appear to be any preference for employing males in private practice. Details of practices The mean year for establishment of respondents' practices was 1976. Seventy-six per cent of respondents were the owners of or principal partners in their practices, 19 per cent had more than one practice and 48 per cent employed an average of 1.8 other therapists in their practices. The average number of patients reported to be seen by a practice each week was 92.8 but the range was from 3 to 500 patients. Most patients (89.3 per cent) were treated in the practitioners' rooms but small numbers of hospital (4.9 per cent) and home (5.8 per cent) visits were made. While most therapists (69 per cent) described their practices as general ones, 15 per cent regarded their practices as specialized and 15 per cen t felt that their practices had areas of specialization. One of the 41 specialties cited, spinal (20) and sports medicine (13) were the most commOD. The others were in traditional areas such as orthopaedics (3), obstetrics (2) and paediatrics (2) except for one practice which specialized in a holistic approach. Very few respondents (7 per cent) employed therapists to provide 154

treatment in a specialist area. One may infer that in the other cases where specialist treatment was given the practitioners regarded themselves as specialists. Their qualifications (See Table 4) suggest that many could not be regarded as specialists according to the criteria discussed by Cole (1983). The results suggest that there is a slight trend for practices to be regarded as specialist practices. Specialization in this sample is occurring mainly in non-traditional areas in which competition with chiropractic is most likely to occur. With the recent developments in post-graduate education the trend toward specialization seems likely to accelerate. Management techniques and technology The average consultation based on respondent's subjective estimates was quite lengthy, lasting for almost 40 minutes. If consultations took longer than average it was because the consultation was the first one (in 63 per cent of practices) or because there was a special problem with the patient (34 per cent). Very few therapists (15 per cent) conducted group classes. These were usually for antenatal patients (6) or patients with back problems (3).

Two practices had geriatric groups, one had a fitness group and one had a relaxation class. Respondents reported using an average of 2.5 techniques from other areas of health care. As shown in Table 1 the most popular were preventative injury treatment (83 per cent) and stress management (60 per cent) which are both techniques which have a high physiotherapy content. However 41 per cent of practitioners sometimes gave nutritional advice, 17 per cent used acupuncture, 18 per cent used meditation, 7 per cent used yoga, 6 per cent used Tai-Chi, and a variety of other techniques such as emotional release, acupressure and personal growth are occasionally used by 18 per cent of therapists. These results suggest that some private practitioners are adopting a broader based view of patients' problems. Machines were an important component of private practice. The average respondent reported owning 8.3 machines and the average age of such machines was 5.6 years. As shown in Table 2 short wave, ultra sound machines and traction machines were those most frequently owned, but 17 other varieties of machine were mentioned. The least number of machines

Table 1: Techniques from other areas of medicine and alternative medicine used in practice (N = 11).

Technique Frequent

Preventative injury treatment Stress Management Nutritional advice Acupuncture Meditation Yoga Tai-chi Other+

Usage Occasional

Never

38

(53.5%)

21

(29.6%)

12

17

(23.9 % ) ( 7.0%)

26 24

(36.6%)

28 42

5 3

2 1 1 0

(

4~2o;o)

( 2.80/0) ( 1.4%)

( 1.40/0)

9 11 4

(33.8%) (12.7%)

(15.50/0)

3

( 5.6°,.'0) ( 4.2%)

13

(18.3%)

59 58

66 67 58

(16.9%) (39.4%)

(59.2°;'0) (83.1 % ) (81.7%) (93.00/0)

(94.4 %

)

(81.7%)

+ Others specified were hypnotherapy (2), emotional release, acupressure, hydrotherapy, aerobic scheme, reflexology, balneology, personal growth, Nautilus Universal Programme, Pod, Accnoluis, Functional Integration.

The Australian Journal of PhySiotherapy. Vol 30, No.5, October, 1984

Private Physiotherapy

owned by a respondent was three and the largest number was eighteen. Presumably a considerable portion of many treatment sessions is spent in the application of machines. A later survey needs to assess the average relative proportion of treatment sessions during which the physiotherapist is personally treating the patient. Practitioners in the sample were highly autonomous. Only 6 per cent said that their first course of action if they were not satisfied with a patient's progress would be to refer back to the doctor~ 7 per cent said that they would consult a colleague and 75 per cent would try other techniques.

Table 2: Machines owned by private practitioners Type of Machine

Short wave diathermy Ultra Sound Traction - Interm iUant - Rythmic Transcutaneous Nerve Stimulator Interferential Wax bath Hydrocollator Massman Interm iUent Pressure Unit Isokinetic Muscle Strengthening Apparatus Faradism Galvanism Microwave Bird Respirator Infra red Maximist Biofeedback Ultra violet Spirometer Acupuncture Universal Nautilus

Number owned by respondents (N = 71) 97 85 62 39 56 41 38 36

35

20

15 14 13

13 6 7 4 3 2 1 1

Table 3: Community groups with which practitioners were affiliated (N = 23)

Group

Number affiliated

Football Athletic Swimming Netball Basketball Zonta Service Club Tennis Skiing Squash Asiana Club

12

7 6

3

2 2 1 1 1 1

Referral of patients The respondents indicated that most of their patients were private patients (39 per cent) or workers' compensation cases (38 per cent). The average percentage of patients referred to a practice by doctors was 88 per cent. Only a third of respondents had formed affiliations with community groups. As shown in Table 3 almost all of these groups were sporting clubs. Of the 61 respondents who replied to the question regarding the effect of physiotherapists acquiring first contact practitioner status, 32 (52.5 per cent) indicated that it had had little or no effect on their practices. The main reasons given were that the public are unaware of physiotherapists' status as first contact practitioners (19), that patients require referrals in order to obtain health fund rebates (9) and that the respondent prefers a team approach to health care (3). Positive effects of the acquired status were mentioned by 29 (47.5 per cent) of the therapists. Eleven said that it allows for earlier treatment of patients particularly those with sports injuries. Six believed that it had improved the public image of physiotherapists. Several of these mentioned that they were now treating patients whose preference for alternative medicine made them disinclined to consult medical practitioners. Four respondents mentioned

that they had less problems with doctors since becoming first contact practitioners. Several mentioned past problems with doctors who refused to refer patients. One therapist considered that his practice had increased in size due to his new status. The remaining seven respondents stated that they were pleased with the effects but did not cite what effects they had experienced. In spite of many positive reactions the results suggest that the introduction of first contact practitioner status has not yet had a significant impact on the doctor-physiotherapist referral system. There is only limited evidence from this sample that private practitioners are actively promoting themselves through affiliations with community groups. Education The proportion of practitioners in the sample who had obtained postgraduate tertiary qualifications (14 per cent) was relatively low but this is not surprising~ considering the recency of the establishment of the Diploma of Manipulative Therapy which was the most common post-graduate qualification. Most therapists established in private practice would find it difficult to devote time to full-time study. Forty-one per cent of respondents listed other physiotherapy related qualifications and 30 per cent were currently enrolled in study programmes (see Table 4). It is of interest that qualifications in manipulative and manual therapy were the ones most frequently mentioned in response to both these questions. Thus practitioners appear to be developing their skills in the areas where there is most competition from alternative medicine. Only 3 per cent of the sample considered that continuing education programmes had been of no benefit to them. The majority of the therapists (70 per cent) were very enthusiastic regarding the benefits. These private practitioners showed a high level of professional cohesion in terms of the number of professional

The Australian Journal of PhySIotherapy Vol. 3D, No.5, October, 1984

155

Private Physiotherapy

groups with which they were affiliated (see Table 5). Ninety-nine per cent were members of the Australian Phy-

siotherapy Association. This contrasts with the membership of 61 per cent reported by second year graduates

Table 4: Practitioners' qualifications (questions 28, 29 and 30) Number

Qualification Post graduate tertiary qualifications (N = 10) Diploma Manipulative I Manual Therapy Diploma of Acupuncture Bachelor of Economics

Post graduate study being undertaken (N Manual therapy courses Diploma of Manipulative Therapy Sports medicine Feldenkrais Method Computer programming Master of Applied Science Master of Biomechanical Engineering Laser therapy Obstetric Course Orthopaedic Miscellaneous Courses

Sex Differences There was only limited support for the hypothesis that male and female practitioners have different characteristics and practices. As shown in Table 6 female practitioners in the sample were much more likely to have worked in private practice part-time. The average female therapist had spent 4.25 years in part-time practice while the average male had spent 0.34 years. There was no significant difference in the number of full time years spent in private practice by the two groups. As shown in Table 7 the female practitioners were just as likely as the male therapists to have post-graduate qualifications or to be studying for further qualifications. There were no significant differences in the number of practices owned by male and female practitioners. They were equally likely to have a specialized practice, to use alternative techniques or to be members of the Private Practitioners' Groups. However, the males (54 per cent) were significantly more likely than the females (22 per cent) to have established affiliations with community groups.

8 1

1

Other physiotherapy-related qualifications (N = 29) Manual therapy, spinal, peripheral Neurology, Bobath, cerebral palsy, proprioceptive naura-muscular facilitation Sports medicine Intensive care Obstetrics Acupuncture Hydrotherapy Halliwick course

20

8 2

1

1

1

1

1

= 21)

9 2 2 1 1 1

1

1 1

1

1

Table 5: Professional groups to which practitioners belong Number belonging

Group Australian Physiotherapy Association (A.P .A.) Private Practitioners' Group (P.P.G.) Manual Therapy Special Group (M.T.S.G.) Sports Medicine Special Group (8.M.S.G.) Australian Sports Medicine Special Group (A.S.M.G.) Manipulative Therapists Association of Australia (M.T.A.A.) Paediatric Special Group (P.S.G.) Obstetric Special Group (O.S.G.) Neurological Special Group Acupuncture Special Group (Ae.S.G.) Orthopaedic Special Group (Orth~S.G.) 156

The Australian Journal of PhysIOtherapy. Vol. 30, No 51 October, 1984

70

62 38 23 6

(99%)

(87°k) (540/0) (32%)

8%)

6

8%)

6

( 8%)

2

( 3%)

1

( 1 0/ 0

3 1

(Westbrook and Nordholm 1982). Memberships of 11 other professional associations were reported. The most popular were the Private Practitioners' Group (87 per cent) the Manual Therapy Special Group (54 per cent) and the Sports Medicine Special Group (32 per cent).

( 4%)

( 1%) )

Conclusion

The limited response rate of 36 per cent makes it difficult to judge how representative the sample was and to what extent the results may be generalized. The findings indicate that the respondents were highly involved in professional associations. Such therapists may have a degree of professional involvement which makes their practices somewhat atypical and which also also leads them to answer questionnaires regarding their professional activities.

Private Physiotherapy

The results are of relevance in providing some information regarding the degree to which the developments within the profession and changing attitudes toward health care discussed earlier, have affected private practice. The responses of this sample suggest that as yet the effects of these changes have been limited. While many respondents appeared to be adopting a broader approach to the treatment of patients' problems most of the new techniques adopted have a high traditional physiotherapy content. Many practitioners in the sample were in-

volved in further education particularly in areas where physiotherapists are experiencing competition from alternative medicine. Only a third of the sample have promoted themselves by establishing community links and relatively few of their patients were not referred. The failure to find many differences between the characteristics of male and female practitioners suggests that popular stereotypes of female therapists having less career commitment than their male colleagues (Mathewson 1975) are incorrect.

Table 6: Results of '...tests comparing male and female practitioners' responses to items 6, 22 Female

Male

M

Response

Number of years spent in full time private practice 6.68 Number of years spent in part time private practice 0.34 Number alternative techniques used 2.04

S

M

S

5.15

5.08

6.48

1.02

69

>.05

1.30

4.25

6.15

2.94

69

.05

df

P

9 14

25 28

30

32

a b

Owns 1 practice Owns 2+ practices General practice Specialized practice Affiliation groups No affiliation Post-grad. qualifications No qualifications Doing post-grad. study N at studying Member P.P.b group Not member P.P. group

% malesa

% females

X2

81.8 18.2 68.2

81.6 18.4 69.4

.10

>.05

.03

>.05

31.8 54.5 45.5

30.6 22.4 77.6

5.75

.05

36.4 63.6

26.5 73.5

.31

95.5

83~7

.99

df

P

>.05

4.5

16.3

Percentages of respondents giving each response. Private Practitioners' Group.

AustralIan Journal of Physiotherapy (1983), Survey of private physiotherapy practices, Australian Journal of PhYSIOtherapy, 29, Supplement vi-vii. Australian PhYSiOtherapy Association (1980), Results of Questionnaire on Public Relations. Cole JE (1983) SpecializatiOn: a new realIty for members of the AustralIan Physiotherapy Association, Australran Journal of Physiotherapy, 29, 144-147. Department of Labor and Immigration (1975), Survey of Four Paramedical Professions, AustralIan Government PublIshing Services, Can~ berra. Glendenning M (1982) The pursuit of knowledge: contmumg education under scrutiny, Austraban Journal of Physiotherapy, 28, 11-15. Lynch JJ (1979), The Broken Heart: the Medical Consequences of Lonelmess, Harper and Row, Sydney. Mathewson M (1975), Female and married. damaging to a therapy profession'! Amencan Jour~ nal of OccupatlOnal Therapy, 29, 601-605. Rice M (1983), Fear and loathing in Macquarie Street, Sydney MornIng Herald, Nov. 7th, 9. Totman R (1979), Social Causes of Illness, SouvenIr Press, London. Westbrook MT and Nordholm LA (1982), Work experIences of recent physiotherapy graduates, Australian Journal of Physiotherapy, 28, 1624. Westbrook MT, Nordholm LA and Walker B (1979), Male students In the health sciences. a companson wIth female students and male unIversity students, AustralIan Journal of PhySIotherapy, 25, 17-22.

Appendix

Table 7: Results of chi-square analyses comparing male and female practitioners' responses Question Response

References

>.05

Questionnaire Items and Private Prac· titioners' Responses (N = 71 unless otherwise stated. Means (M) and standard deviations (S) are indicated.)

Biographic Data 1. What is your sex? 22 (31070) Male Female 49 (69070) 2. What is your age? M = 38.6 years S = 14.0 years 3. In what year did you complete your undergraduate training? M = 1967, S = 9 years 4. What is your basic qualification in physiotherapy? Diploma of Physiotherapy 48 (68010 ) Post-graduate diploma 9 (13070) Bachelor of Applied Science 9 (13070) Overseas qualifications 3 ( 4070) No response 2 ( 3070) 5. How many years have you worked as a physiotherapist? S = 8.8 years M = 14.8 years

The Australian Journal of Physiotherapy. Vol 30, No 5, October, 1984

157

Private Physiotherapy

6.

How many years have you worked full-time and/or part-time in private practice? Full-time M = 5.6 years S = 6.0 years Part-time M = 3.2 years S = 5.6 years

Details of practice 7. If you are working in private practice now are you i) owner/principal partner 54 (76%) ii) partner 17 (24 % ) 8. Is your practice situated in i) City of Sydney 1 ( 1070) ii) Suburban Sydney 42 (59070) iii) Rural city 9 (13070) iv) Country town (less than 40 ~OOO) 18 (250,70) N a response 1 ( 1% ) 9. Do you have more than one practice? If 'yes~ how many practices do you have? One 58 (820/0) Two 10 (14070) Three 2 ( 3%) Four 1 ( 1010) 10. Do you employ other physiotherapists in your practice? If 'yes' how many and what is their sex? No 37 (52070) Yes 34 (48070) Of the 63 physiotherapists employed 8 (13OJo) were males and 55 (87010) were females. 11. In what year did you establish this practice? M = 1976 S = 7.0 years 12. What is the average number of patients attending your practice per week? M = 92.8 patients S = 84 patients Range = 3-500 13. What is the average percentage of patients treated by your practice in i) rooms M = 89.3070 S =: 12.30/0 ii) hospitals M =: 4.90/0 S = 14.8070 iii) home visits M =: 5.8070 S = 10.3070 14. How would you describe your practice? i) general 49 (69070) ii) specialized 11 (15%) iii) general with specialization II (15070) 15. If you have a specialist practice, what is your field? (22 respondents listed 41 specialist areas) 20 Spinal Sports medicine 13 3 Orthopaedics 2 Obstetrics

158

16.

Paediatrics 2 Holistic I Do you employ physiotherapists for specialist treatments? If 'yes' please specify field(s) of speciality for which you employ them. Yes = 5 ( 7070) No = 66 (93%) Fields specified were manual therapy (5)~ sports medicine (2) and neurology (1)

Management techniques and technology 17. What is the average time of a consultation in your practice? M = 39.7 minutesS = 12.8 minutes 18. If your consultation takes longer than the average time~ indicate whether this is because it is a First treatment a) always 45 (63070) b) occasionally 13 (18010) c) rarely 1 ( IOJo) d) no answer 12 (l7OJa) Special problem with patient a) always 24 (34070) b) occasionally 35 (49070) c) rarely 2 ( 3010) d) no anwer 10 (14070)

19.

If you are not satisfied with the progress of a patient, what action would you resort to first? (Tick only one) Try another technique = 53 (75070) Refer back to doctor 4 ( 6010) Seek advice of a colleague 5 ( 7070) Answered all of above = 4 ( 6OJo) No answer = 5 ( 7070)

20.

Do you conduct group classes? No 60 (84.5070) Yes II (15.5070)

21.

If you conduct group classes what are they for? (11 respondents listed 13 classes) Ante~natal 6 Back 3 Geriatric group 2 Fitness 1 Relaxation 1

22.

23.

Many physiotherapists are incorporating ideas from other areas of medicine and alternative medicine in the treatment of their patients. Have you used any of these techniques in your practice? (See Table 1 for techniques cited) M = 2.5 techniques S = 1.8 Range = 0-7 What type of machines do you have in your practice? Indicate also, the year the machines were bought or leased? (See Table 2 for details of responses).

The Australian Journal of PhySiotherapy. Vol. 30 , No 5, October. 1984

Number of machines owned M = 8.3 machines S = 3.5 machines Average number of years machines owned M = 5.6 years S = 6.8 years Referral system 24. What percentage of your total patient clientele are Private patients M = 39.10,70 S = 23.8 M =: 9.9OJo Government S = 11.9 Workers' CompenM = 37.6070 sation S = 22.8 Insurance M = 8.6070 S =: 8.4 Pensioners M = 4.1070 S = 7.9 25. Do you have affiliations with other community groups? No = 48 ( 6.8070) Yes = 23 (32.0070) (see Table 3 for details of groups).

26.

What percentage of your patients are referred to you by doctors? M = 88.2070 S = 12.7

Private physiotherapy: characteristics of a sample of practitioners and their practices.

Responses to a questionnaire by 71 private practitioners indicated that the average practitioner was aged 38.6, graduated in 1967, had worked professi...
650KB Sizes 0 Downloads 4 Views