Although studies have examined factors predictive of graduation and licensure success of PT students including URMs, these studies have not specifically explored the extent to which diversity factors impact student recruitment.7-14, Three common initiatives to support the successful recruitment of URM students across medicine, dentistry, nursing, and pharmacy include student mentorship, pipelines, and enhancement programs. We've all heard stories of black women being believed the least of all demographics when it comes to chronic pain. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, released in December 2015, stated that job openings for physical therapists due to growth and replacement needs would total 128,300 from 2014-2024. The data is equally grim for rehabilitation-related allied health professionals in physical therapy 10, occupational therapy 11, and speech-language pathology. When this occurs, the true benefit of the PT profession can be realized and enjoyed equally by all. The survey was opened on March 1, 2015 and it was closed on May 1, 2015. These are our unconscious biases, and theyre notoriously difficult to identify, let alone mitigate. According to the latest Census, 20% of Canadians identify themselves as a minority or foreign born [].Minority groups are expected to constitute the majority of the United States population by 2044 [].Given North America's increasingly diverse population, cultural competence in rehabilitation services is a major concern [3,4,5].While the need for rehabilitation services has an important . She practiced in a variety of settings including in-patient rehabilitation, acute care, long-term care, and home care. There are tons of patients who are lacking trust in their providers because they don't feel that their providers really care. Students who identified as white (alone or in combination with other categories) responded to the survey more than any other group; compared to white respondents, only 11.91% of respondents represented all other racial categories, alone or in combination. Solicitation efforts targeted the more than 25,000 students currently enrolled in DPT programs and included four communications to program directors asking them to encourage student participation and five total communications to enrolled DPT students using Facebook, Twitter, and the Student Pulse. While jurisdictional legislation may prevent specific data collection, there should still be some available options. Before we begin, please know that Im opening this conversation in good faith, and that I want to promote thoughtfulness and genuine discussion, not anger. Racial minorities face obstacles like limited access to care, lower-quality insurance coverage, and less economic and social flexibility than their white counterparts. Wolters Kluwer Health While race, ethnicity, and lower socioeconomic strata within this definition are commonly understood, educational, and geographic disadvantages may require explanation. These data do not point to new insights, but instead confirm that recruitment is a comprehensive and long-term commitment.20 Additionally, fewer students from nonwhite and disadvantaged backgrounds identified making late career decisions to pursue PT. Therefore, diversity is critical to a board's mission of public protection. Many historically marginalized groups face challenges such as poverty, stigmatization about going to therapy, and the potential lack of cultural awareness from those outside their culture . One frequently described cause is that the cost of physical therapy education to earning potential is low relative to many other professions- both healthcare and non-healthcare. This approach can take different strategies and involve different layers within an organization; in reverse, problems in one area can reverberate across the organization. To achieve this increased representation within the profession, PT education must recruit, admit, and retain a more diverse student body. Vongvanith VV, Huntington SA, Nkansah NT. 2005;19:52-56. When navigating differences, people can be insecure; therefore, navigating them effectively requires vulnerability, humility, and courage. met to extract themes from the responses and develop the coding scheme for the data. 2009;23:29-36. 8. to maintaining your privacy and will not share your personal information without They developed a Framework for Culturally Responsive Regulation to consider the components of diversity, equity, inclusion, racial justice, and cultural competency in the context of these four groups: Any regulatory policy or rule will consider the role of and the impact to these groups with the end goal of achieving culturally responsive regulation. Adrienne D. Price, RN, BA, MSN, obtained her associates of science in nursing from Macon State College, her bachelor of arts degree from Mercer University, and her masters of science in nursing from the University of Phoenix. I'm talking about the lack of diversity in physical therapy. However, students of color (alone and in combination with Hispanic or other races) represented the greatest percentage of disadvantaged backgrounds (Table 2). Since 2013, the program, part of UD's top-ranked physical therapy program, has helped 136 students of color be more . There may be many reasons people do not want to report their ethnicity. She also served on the County Health Emergency Assistance Resource Team (CHEART), an affiliate of the Public Health Task Force for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) in the North Central Health District. So what can be done to improve access to PT services and to ensure positive outcomes for people of color? We must recognize that even the most well-meaning people can be susceptible to skewed hiring decisions, and seek out ways to test for and remove bias in the hiring process. make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations. As a registered nurse, she practiced in a number of different health care settings including obstetrics, gynecology, hospice and palliative care, pediatrics with a concentration in developmental disabilities, public health, and nursing regulation as a Legal and Disciplinary Nurse Consultant. And the more students see other physical therapists who look like them and are successful at what they do, the more students will consider this as a career path for themselves. The ACAPT DTF identified a need to determine what factors most significantly contribute to a student's decision to pursue a PT career and, within this, to understand the similarities or differences in the process by which URM students make this decision. Physical Therapy Centralized Application Service. Examination of the open-ended responses (Figure 1) revealed that white students identified factors related to Experience and Influence as more strongly influencing their career decision for PT. Libby J. Ross is the senior director for Student Affairs, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. In addition, she is the Director of the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, and Vice Chair of Rehab and Movement Sciences, at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.Nancy has been a member of the New Jersey Board of Physical Therapy Examiners since 1990 and was chairperson of the board for twelve years. As Ive said before, patients should have the option to choose a therapy provider who they feel comfortable with, who they can relate to. Reasons for reduced outpatient PT visits for Black Americans may include: By understanding the factors that may present a barrier to outpatient PT services for people of color, changes can be made to ensure that therapy services are available to all people who may likely benefit from them. Instead of approaching each statutory requirement in isolation, the board decided that it made more sense to develop a holistic approach. Oregon Board of Physical Therapy. There was one theme in our Facebook comments that really stood out to me. Diversity is important, and we have to talk about it. Therapists are naturally altruistic, kind, and intently focused on the patient experience, and with a diverse pool of therapists in our clinics, we can improve the experience of so many more patients. 19. J Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. However, a more current study by Splenser and associates 30 showed a positive correlation between minority faculty and minority applicants to physical therapist education programs. In part, this is tied to how the general public perceives physical therapy as ancillary to primary care rather than as a first line of treatment. In 2011-2012, African American and Hispanic faculty combined composed slightly more than 5% of all core faculty at CAPTE-accredited programs. It is important to note that it does not matter that the board is diverse if the other board members do not respect and listen to the diverse voices, even if it is different than what they usually hear. If we want to make a serious effort to diversify our profession, one of the most important steps will be making physical therapy education more accessible to more people. And I don't understand the argument that diversity would compromise integrity. By exposing BIPOC students to the physical therapy profession through guidance counselors, internship opportunities, and current therapists sharing their stories, they are more likely to consider physical therapy as an attractive career. The ages at which students from URM backgrounds make their decisions to pursue PT as a career tend to be shifted a bit later relative to non-URM students, which may reflect that URM students take longer to complete their undergraduate degrees and/or are less aware of careers or engaged with career mentoring at earlier academic stages. Education for physicians may also be helpful. Following the adoption of the URM definition, the DTF undertook the second part of its charge: to affirm a rationale for promoting a diverse PT student population. Utzman RR, Riddle DL, Jewell DV. J Phys Ther Educ. Perhaps one of the best ways to help improve the ability of Black Americans to enjoy the benefits PT has to offer is to provide education. These URM students indicated fewer career decisions under age 20 and more between 21 and 25 years compared to the non-URM students. Importantly, unconscious bias and false stereotypes about pain levels and drug use have resulted in a deep mistrust of the healthcare system. Despite the many challenges to achieving diverse representation, board members need to address this issue now. Majority and minority faculty support of such an organization should shape the career information students access, profession-specific mentoring, and opportunities for inclusive interaction with profession-specific clubs. your express consent. Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education. Though the word "diversity" itself simply means having variety, true diversity in a professional setting requires more than hiring a couple people who look different than . A more diverse physical therapist (PT) workforce is needed to meet the rapidly changing demographic of the United States. And it does not matter which setting the referral is made to. I want to gain actual data from underrepresented groups to see if there is a common theme related to why physical therapy programs do not receive a more diverse pool of applicants. We may not be able to conduct blind interviews for staff therapists, but perhaps we could review rsums without names visible in an effort to reduce bias. 12 Thus the profound lack of diversity in physical medicine treatment staff is not in alignment with the natural occurrence of racial and ethnic groups in the larger population. 00:00. A total of 2,513 students completed this survey, yielding a response rate of approximately 10%. Another part of the issue is the woeful lack of racial diversity within the physical therapy provider workforce. This study of the perceptions and experiences of physiotherapists identified a lack of ethnic diversity within the profession. She was also a member of the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators (NADDI).In 2013, she was instrumental in the development, editing, and the selection of content for the board of nursings quarterly magazine, The Georgian Nurse. Collapsed across all respondents, the mean age at which students reported deciding to become a PT was 19.6 years (mode 18 years, with a range of 556). Hispanic and Black Americans have reduced odds of a therapy visit, while PT services in an outpatient setting seem to be attended mostly by whites. Promoting diversity in the field is a worthy endeavor. She also served a five-year term on the APTA Ethics and Judicial Committee and the APTA Reference Committee. Healthcare providers must take positive action to ensure barriers to care are removed, education about beneficial services is delivered, and racial bias in care is squashed. A total of 886 students (35.2% of the survey sample) responded to the open-ended question regarding identifying and selecting PT as a career choice. As we strive to reach our goals in health justicehigher-quality, lower-cost, patient-centered care that is accessible to allinclusivity is imperative. Only 6.5 percent of the U.S. physical therapy workforce identifies as Black or Latinx, while both groups account for more than a quarter of the entire nation. Mental health issues are common - about 1 in 5 American adults experiences a . Diversity and difference in the therapeutic relationship can create challenges to the therapeutic relationship and may present barriers to relating.
lack of diversity in physical therapy