Statistical Results of an Analysis of the Physiotherapy Department in the Johannesburg Hospital

The health services environment in South Africa has changed dramatically during the past five years especially for state-funded hospitals in the public sector. At the Johannesburg Hospital the admission of chronic patients has increased considerably over the past five years, thus increasing the workload for the physiotherapists. In spite of the increased workload of physiotherapists the staff complement of the Physiotherapy  Department has decreased from forty-one to eighteen staff members due to severe budget constraints.  The radical cuts to the staffing structure prompted this investigation. This article describes the results obtained from statistical analyses of time sheets completed by the staff over a six-month period to determine whether the staff complement was adequate. The approach followed with the statistical analysis was to use confidence intervals to compare the standard treatment times with the actual treatment times.  Hypothesis testing was used to determine whether it would be possible to standardise treatment times for similar treatments in different treatment areas.  The required capacity was calculatedbased on the amount of time spent on direct patient care by the physiotherapists during the six-month period.