A study of the scholarly activities of physical therapy faculty members in selected schools of allied health was conducted through a mailed questionnaire survey. The analysis of the data provided by the respondents (N = 127; 97.6%) revealed the following: 1) the respondents' primary scholarly activity was authorship of referred journal articles; 2) a majority of the respondents presented a paper at a professional meeting during the past three years; 3) only a small percentage of the respondents had directed extramurally funded projects; 4) the majority of the respondents indicated that their own academic preparation was the primary factor that encouraged their scholarly pursuits and that heavy teaching and administrative responsibilities were the primary discouraging factors; and 5) the respondents indicated that faculty scholarly activities are, and will continue to be, important considerations in academic promotion decisions. Comparison of the data provided by these respondents with data from the 1983 American Physical Therapy Association physical therapy faculty survey suggests modest gains in scholarly productivity. The implications of these findings are that faculty development programs are warranted and physical therapy administrators and faculty should join forces in finding more effective ways to involve faculty in research activities.
This article illuminates major considerations having an impact on the utilization of human resources in physical therapy. The current and potential impacts of health system forces and trends and health care reform, in general, and scope of practice, team care, supply and demand, and managed care, in particular, are cited and discussed. The manner in which physical therapists perceive and respond to health care needs and access issues and in turn the manner in which the public and policymakers acknowledge physical therapy's growing role in this defining of health and health care are both likely to create new opportunities for service.
Overview/Historical PerspectiveHealth professionals from many disciplines need to work in concert to address the complex health needs of our diverse and changing populations. Although each discipline has its own focus, "all health care disciplines share a common and primary commitment to serving the patient and working toward the ideal of health for all." 1 Therefore, society and health care would be better served if students in the health professions "have opportunities to experience working together . . . in valid models of cooperative health care delivery." 2 Consistent with the National League for Nursing's (NLN) vision, which involves "strengthening ties with the community and expanding interdisciplinary activities," 3 in 1995, a presidential panel on interdisciplinary*/ Editors' Note: Because of the unusual nature of this manuscript, we will forgo the usual journal format, for instance, the bicolumnar format and modified APA style for references.
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