Factors Contributing to Physical Therapist Attrition: A Qualitative Study.

Background: Physical therapists (PTs) report job satisfaction when delivering autonomous, high-quality care, but they also experience work-related stress, burnout, and emotional exhaustion. Retaining experienced and skilled clinicians is important. However, a subset of PTs are choosing to voluntarily leave clinical practice (i.e., experience attrition). PT attrition may negatively impact patient care, increase organizational costs, and negatively impact the profession.

Purpose: This study examined the nature of the experiences of PTs voluntarily leaving clinical practice in order to understand factors contributing to PT attrition.

Method: A pragmatic qualitative approach with individual, semi-structured interviews conducted with PTs who left clinical practice was used. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using deductive thematic analyses.

Discussion: Nineteen US-based PTs who left clinical practice were interviewed. Participants were predominately female (n=15), Doctors of Physical Therapy (n=10), with a median of 6 years working in clinical practice as a PT. Analyses revealed five key themes contributing to leaving clinical practice subdivided into Herzberg's Theory: 1) lack of career advancement opportunities; 2) rising productivity requirements reducing the quality of patient care; 3) financial concerns due to imbalance between cost of PT education and compensation; 4) physical demands either contributing to attrition or seen as a benefit of the profession; and 5) emotional burden contributing to attrition or emotional connection seen as professional value.

Conclusions: Understanding the factors contributing to PT attrition is important to guide future strategies to address these factors. Further research may identify opportunities to address these concerns in entry-level education, workplace environments, and professional continuing education.