台灣地區物理治療人員生產力及供需之分析研究

The purpose of this study was to determine the physical therapy manpower in Taiwan. The data were collected from two sources. One was from the survey in Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of 119 hospitals and the other form the results of Dr. Lian's study (Disease Classification and Treatment of Patients in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine Among Different Hospitals) to have the information related to the characteristics of patients who received medical rehabilitation. The data were calculated to obtain the average number of times of visits to physical therapists, person per year in Taiwan area, thereby constructing the basic index of physical therapy demand. Population growth, sex and age mix, insurance coverage change and urbanization were taken into account to predict the relation between demand and supply of physical therapy personnel for the year of 2001 and 2011. The status quo of productivity and distribution of physical therapy personnel in each county/city and medical region were examined as well in order to provide basis for better planning and policymaking in physical therapy field and government agencies.
The study showed that physical therapists seem to be over- supplied in 2001 and 2011. However, if considering the demand and supply of physical therapy personnel, about 40 percent of the therapists devoted themselves to the physical therapy services other than rehabilitation department of medical institutions, the result might be quite different. In terms of quality assurance, the supply of qualified phypical therapists with bachelor's degree were still less than demand. With regard to distribution aspect, the differences of ratios of physical therapy personnel to population between counties/cities are enormously huge. Fruthermone, how to make the manpower even distributed would be an important issue in the future.