What would physiotherapists in geriatric medicine do if they had more staff?
Forty-one per cent of UK physiotherapy departments responding to a questionnaire felt that they had sufficient staff, and these had more physiotherapists per elderly population than those who felt that they had insufficient staff. At present 77% of therapist time is spent in direct patient contact. There were areas where it appeared that an excessive amount of time was being spent in administration etc. Therapists felt that, with more staff, there would be an increase in the intensity of treatment, group therapy, work with long-stay patients and more pre-discharge home visits. Very few units would carry out research even if more time was available.
D005853:Geriatrics; D006801:Humans; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom