Abstract
In Thailand, health system has increasing concerns on physical therapy (PT) workforce planning for aging population. The workforce projection study should also cover on attrition and retention. To determine work pattern, job mobility, satisfaction of Thai physical therapists and their determinants among public and private sector physical therapists were necessity. During January to April 2013, we conducted a cross-sectional survey on a subgroup of physical therapists (PTs) working in 360 healthcare facilities in 13 provinces of Thailand. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect variables including socio-demographic characteristic, work status, job satisfaction, and professional mobility. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, mean, median were compared between public and private sectors. Factor analysis was also applied for 10 items of job satisfaction. Plan to leave the PT profession was compared with adjustment for the variables using logistic regression. From a total of 858 active PTs, there were 553 respondents (64.5%) in the study. Working status of private PTs was better than public one in terms of higher incomes, more permanent positions, less work load, and less involvement in prevention and research. However, PTs in the public sector had significantly higher work benefits. Job satisfaction of PTs was influenced by 3 main factors including professional fulfillment, job stress, and physical exhaustion. Within 5 years, one-quarter of the public PTs (23.5%) and one-third of the private PTs (36.1%) had a plan to leave the profession. For longer term, half of the public sector PTs (50.8%) were going to work until retirement. The private PTs were 2.4 times more likely to leave the profession after adjustment for age, income, and all 3 sub-domains of job satisfaction. In conclusion, the national health workforce planning in Thailand should improve the PT’s working conditions in consequence of fulfilling and solving the problem of inadequate PT workforce and high attrition.
