Mapping Physiotherapy Use in Canada in Relation to Physiotherapist Distribution

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Geospatial Health Analysis
• Public Health Policy

Background:

• Understanding the geographical distribution of healthcare professionals is crucial for equitable service delivery.
• Physiotherapy access can be influenced by the spatial availability of practitioners.
• Previous research has highlighted disparities in healthcare resource allocation across Canada.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the relationship between physiotherapist distribution and self-reported physiotherapy use at the health region level in Canada.
• To identify geographical patterns and potential inequalities in physiotherapy access across Canadian provinces and territories.
• To provide data-driven insights for health policy and resource management.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study utilizing data from the 2014 Canadian Community Health Survey (physiotherapy use) and the 2015 Canadian Institute of Health Information Physiotherapist Database (practitioner distribution).
• Geospatial mapping and Pearson's correlation analysis were employed to assess the association between physiotherapy use and distribution.
• Variables were categorized based on standard deviations from national means to classify health regions by use and distribution levels.

Main Results:

• A moderate positive correlation was found between physiotherapy use and physiotherapist distribution (Pearson's r = 0.581, p < 0.001).
• A significant proportion of health regions (15.2%) showed high physiotherapy use with high practitioner distribution, while others indicated mismatches (e.g., 4.3% high use-low distribution).
• Sixty percent of health regions exhibited medium use and medium distribution, suggesting a general alignment but with regional variations.

Conclusions:

• The distribution of physiotherapists and self-reported physiotherapy use varies considerably across Canadian health regions.
• These variations suggest potential geographical inequalities in access to physiotherapy services.
• Findings can inform health human resource planning and policy-making for more equitable service delivery, enabling granular comparisons of intra- and inter-provincial differences.