Is there a correlation between length of employment and receiving a post-professional certification or residency in...

BackgroundVarious factors in recent years have been shown to negatively impact the physical therapy (PT) workforce in the United States, including decreased reimbursement, burnout, student debt, work-life balance, and more.ObjectiveTo determine if there is a correlation between length of employment and receiving a post-professional certification or residency training in PTMethodsA convenience sample of 121 PTs completing a post-professional certification or residency program, or none, was obtained from a large multi-clinic PT group with an accompanying educational department. Data for each of the employed PTs in the cohort was obtained regarding the hire date, duration of employment before certification/residency, since certification/residency, and overall.ResultsOnly one certification, the pain certification, was correlated to longer employment versus no formal post-professional certification/residency training (p = 0.02). Results show that the mean duration of employment before the start of a pain certification (3.67 years) was significantly longer than sports physical therapy residency (0.52 years; p = 0.001), orthopedic physical therapy residency (1.13 years; p = 0.006)) and manual therapy certification (0.81 years; (p = 0.001). Following training, employment duration produced a less pronounced difference.ConclusionEnrollment in a post-professional pain certification occurs later in the employment tenure compared to other certifications and residencies. Additional research is needed to explore the correlation between post-professional education and longevity of employment and other confounding variables.