Physiotherapy caseload guidelines: summary of a report prepared for the Canadian Physiotherapy Association

Physiotherapy caseload standards were developed in 1975 for the purpose of providing an efficient statistical tool for department heads, administrators and government planners in their consideration of staffing and equipping treatment facilities. This paper is a summary of a report prepared by a committee of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association whose task was to evaluate the standards. Analysis of data collected by Statistics Canada via the Canadian Schedule of Unit Values in 1980-81, showed a high correlation between two primary workload indicators--attendances per department paid hour and attendances per physiotherapist paid hours. Using three of the seventeen statistical indicators developed, the committee prepared physiotherapy caseload standards for seven types of hospitals, categorized by size and the proportion of rehabilitation services they offered. The standards were later revised and reissued as guidelines. This report discusses three of the recommended guidelines: number of attendances per physiotherapy department paid hour; number of attendances per physiotherapist paid hour; and weighted units per physiotherapy department paid hour. A copy of the complete report is available from the Canadian Physiotherapy Association.