Millsteed J
School of Occupational Therapy, Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia, Australia.
Aust J Rural Health. 2000 Apr;8(2):73-6. doi: 10.1046/j.1440-1584.2000.00245.x.
The unequal distribution of health workers across Australia in favour of urban areas affects the provision of effective health services to rural and remote communities. Additional pressures on the current and future supply of occupational therapists may arise from a restructuring of the health labour force and demographic changes in the age structure of the population. Projections made on the basis of these data indicate that employment growth for occupational therapists will create a demand for 9600 therapists in 2005, or 79.9% more than the number of occupational therapists employed in 1994. Factors such as reductions in the level of immigration and the number of people of working age, and a diminishing population of school leavers to fill student places in universities will make it difficult to meet the projected demand for occupational therapists. Occupational therapy labour force planning suffers from a lack of detailed data on under-serviced areas. Such data are critical for clarifying the magnitude of the projected discrepancy between future demand and supply needs for occupational therapists in rural and urban areas in Australia.
澳大利亚卫生工作者分布不均，偏向城市地区，这影响了向农村和偏远社区提供有效的卫生服务。卫生劳动力结构调整和人口年龄结构的人口变化可能给职业治疗师的当前和未来供应带来额外压力。根据这些数据做出的预测表明，职业治疗师的就业增长将在2005年创造对9600名治疗师的需求，比1994年就业的职业治疗师数量多79.9%。移民水平和工作年龄人口数量的减少，以及可供大学填补学生名额的离校生人数减少等因素，将使满足职业治疗师的预计需求变得困难。职业治疗劳动力规划因缺乏关于服务不足地区的详细数据而受到影响。这些数据对于阐明澳大利亚农村和城市地区职业治疗师未来需求与供应需求之间预计差异的程度至关重要。
