AN INTROSPECTION INTO PHYSIOTHERAPY EDUCATION IN AFRICA

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AN INTROSPECTION INTO PHYSIOTHERAPY EDUCATION IN
AFRICA Prof Seyi Ladele Amosun Division of
Physiotherapy School of Health Rehabilitation
Sciences Faculty of Health Sciences
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• Society of Trained Masseurs (1894)
• WCPT
• 92 member countries over 250,000 therapists
• 5 regions Africa, Asia, Europe, North America
  Caribbean, South America

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Bitrus Gani-Ikilama Physiotherapist
with visual impairment
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• What is physiotherapy all about?
• Within what context is physiotherapy education
  offered in Africa?

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A health care profession concerned with human
function and movement and maximizing potential
uses physical approaches to promote, maintain
and restore physical, psychological and social
well-being, taking account of variations in
health status it is science-based, committed to
extending, applying, evaluating and reviewing
the evidence that underpins and informs its
practice and delivery Chartered Society of
Physiotherapy (CSP, UK)
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Headline Doctors up in arms as
physiotherapists claim they are overqualified to
be mere technicians!
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The challenge is for you to prove your critics
who are labeling you as technicians wrong and to
broaden your scope of practice Dr Abe Nkomo
(1998) Chair, Portfolio Committee on Health
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• Challenges in Africa
• Poverty
• Underdevelopment
• Huge burden of preventable treatable disease

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• Contributors to burden of disease
• Road Traffic Accidents1
• Profile of elderly receiving physiotherapy2
• Are elderly pedestrians allowed enough time at
  pedestrian crossings in Cape Town?3

1. Amosun SL et al. 1997 2. Amosun SL 2001 3.
Amosun SL et al. 2006
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Source Harvard Public School of Health's project
on the global burden of disease
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• Reducing huge burden of disease
• (Health Education strategies)
• Secure health systems services
• Increase access to post-secondary education
• Curriculum development
• Reduce burden of disease

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Physiotherapy Education in Africa
3-year Diploma program
African Rehabilitation Institute
4-year university degree program
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Throughput at UCT 1995-2000 cohorts
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Andre Kleynhans
Vice Rector, UWC
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African countries with PT education programs
(1995-2006)
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• Physiotherapy Curricula -
• Grounded in scientific knowledge
• Aimed at addressing physical problems
• Use evidence-based techniques

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CURRICULUM CONTENT

• Professional
• Clinical Practice
• PT Techniques
• PNF, Massage, ET, Mobilisation, NMS, Acupunture,
  Exs, CPR
• Rehabilitation
• PHC ICU CPR NMS
• Management Ethics
• Orthopaedics
• Neuro
• Paediatrics
• Womens Health
• Surgery
• Geriatrics
• Veterinary Med
• Dentistry

• Basic Sciences
• Anatomy Physiology Chemistry
• Physics Psychology
• IT Language
• Communication skills

• Research
• Research Methods
• Stats Epi
• Research Project

• Clinical Sciences
• Pathology
• Microbiology
• Pharmacology
• Orthopaedics
• Surgery
• Womens Health
• Medicine
• PHC

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• Burnout Students/Graduates?1
• 72.4 - moderate to high levels of personal
  accomplishment
• 80.3 - moderate to high levels of emotional
  exhaustion
• 14.5 - moderate to high levels of
  depersonalization
• Distressed Students/Graduates?2
• 52.0 - at risk of distress
• 8.0 - distressed with somatic symptoms
• 6.0 distressed with depressive symptoms

1. Amosun SL, Dantile ND 1996 2. Amosun SL,
Naido P, 2002
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• Setting Rehabilitation Goals for Adult Spinal
  cord-injured Patients
• Differences in rehabilitation goals set by health
  professionals and patients

Gear H et al 2001
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Continental Profile of Physiotherapy in
CBR
Amosun SL et al. 1998
Amosun SL et al, 1998
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• Development in research

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• Outcome Measures
• Multi-dimensional Chronic Headache Questionnaire
• Severity of headache
• Impact of headache
• Functional limitation
• Participation restrictions

Diener JH, Amosun SL, Grimmer K 2003
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• Health-Related Quality of Life Instrument
• Topmost five domains of health-related quality of
  life among IsiXhosa speaking people in Cape Town
• Food availability
• Owing a brick house
• Access to medical services
• Family safety
• Raising children

Jelsma J, Mkoka S, Amosun SL 2004 Mkoka S,
Jelsma J, Amosun SL (ongoing)
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Proposals for Physiotherapy Education in Africa

• Primary Health Care Principles
• Curative, preventive, promotive care
• Re-define scope of practice
• Improve access, retention, throughput
• Stimulate research interest
• Multi-disciplinary learning
• Curriculum development
• Lifelong learning

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AN INTROSPECTION INTO PHYSIOTHERAPY EDUCATION IN
AFRICA