2008 Practice Analysis Study of Hand Therapy

How therapists specializing in hand therapy evaluate the ability of patients to participate in their daily lives: An exploratory study

“…This information is consistent with the findings of Dimick et al, 4 in which degenerative diseases, repetitive stress disorders, and traumatic injuries were among the most prevalent diagnoses and congenital or neurological disorders were among the least prevalent.…”

“…Their average age was 41.12 (SD ¼ 9.25), reflecting membership statistics in AOTA, with 27.5% of members ages 30e39, and 29.2% ages 40e49 (C. Foster, personal communication, November 12, 2008), but more closely resembling those of ASHT, which had a mean age of 42. 4 ASHT reports that 22% of its members have specialized in hand therapy for 6e10 years and 44% for 11e20 years. 24 These percentages are mostly within one standard deviation from the participants in this study.…”

“…17 However, the percentage of occupational therapists (76.3%) to physical therapists (11.7%) in this study resembles the proportion of occupational therapists (78.7%) to physical therapists (11.4%) noted in the 2014 survey 17 but not that of the occupational therapists (89%) and physical therapists (11%) in the 2008 practice analysis. 4 The number of participants who pursued postprofessional education (17.7%) reflects the likelihood that highly motivated therapists seek to enhance their skills by attending conferences. Of those participants, only .8% reported earning a doctor of philosophy degree, corresponding to 1% reported by ASHT 24 and the 2014 survey.…”

“…16 A substantive shift was noted in the 2008 hand therapy practice analysis. 4 Surveyed therapists placed moderate to critical importance on functional activity and techniques to assess ADL's, carrying them out weekly to daily, a notable change since the 1985 and 1994 practice surveys. However, "assessment of outcomes" rated with minimal to moderate importance, was employed monthly to weekly.…”

A Role Delineation Study of Hand Surgery in the USA: Assessing Variations in Fellowship Training and Clinical Practice

“…This practice is also common practice in conducting RDS surveys with a high burden of survey items [12,19]. Each of the survey versions contained items in three segments.…”