Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 May 10;18(1):352.
doi: 10.1186/s12913-018-3158-y.

A workforce survey of Australian osteopathy: analysis of a nationally-representative sample of osteopaths from the Osteopathy Research and Innovation Network (ORION) project

Jon Adams  1 , David Sibbritt  2 , Amie Steel  2 , Wenbo Peng  2
Affiliations

A workforce survey of Australian osteopathy: analysis of a nationally-representative sample of osteopaths from the Osteopathy Research and Innovation Network (ORION) project

Jon Adams et al. BMC Health Serv Res. .

Abstract

Background: Limited information is available regarding the profile and clinical practice characteristics of the osteopathy workforce in Australia. This paper reports such information by analysing data from a nationally-representative sample of Australian osteopaths.

Methods: Data was obtained from a workforce survey of Australian osteopathy, investigating the characteristics of the practitioner, their practice, clinical management features and perceptions regarding research. The survey questionnaire was distributed to all registered osteopaths across Australia in 2016 as part of the Osteopathy Research and Innovation Network (ORION) project.

Results: A total of 992 Australian osteopaths participated in this study representing a response rate of 49.1%. The average age of the participants was 38.0 years with 58.1% being female and the majority holding a Bachelor or higher degree qualification related to the osteopathy professional. Approximately 80.0% of the osteopaths were practicing in an urban area, with most osteopaths working in multi-practitioner locations, having referral relationships with a range of health care practitioners, managing patients a number of musculoskeletal disorders, and providing multi-model treatment options.

Conclusions: A total of 3.9 million patients were estimated to consult with osteopaths every year and an average of approximate 3.0 million hours were spent delivering osteopathy services per year. Further research is required to provide rich, in-depth examination regarding a range of osteopathy workforce issues which will help ensure safe, effective patient care to all receiving and providing treatments as part of the broader Australian health system.

Keywords: Osteopath; Osteopathy; Practice-based research network; Workforce.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The ORION project has been approved by the University of Technology Sydney Human Ethics Committee (approval # 2014000759). All participants provided written informed consent.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

References

    1. Steel A, Blaich R, Sundberg T, Adams J. The role of osteopathy in clinical care: broadening the evidence-base. Int J Osteopath Med. 2017;24:32–36. doi: 10.1016/j.ijosm.2017.02.002. - DOI
    1. Steel A, Sundberg T, Reid R, Ward L, Bishop FL, Leach M, et al. Osteopathic manipulative treatment: a systematic review and critical appraisal of comparative effectiveness and health economics research. Musculoskelet Sci Pract. 2017;27:165–175. doi: 10.1016/j.math.2016.10.067. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Thomson OP, Petty NJ, Moore AP. Clinical decision-making and therapeutic approaches in osteopathy – a qualitative grounded theory study. Man Ther. 2014;19:44–51. doi: 10.1016/j.math.2013.07.008. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Osteopathic International Alliance. Osteopathy and osteopathic medicine: a global view of practice, patients, education and the contribution to healthcare delivery. 2013. http://oialliance.org/resources/oia-status-report/. Accessed 8 Dec 2017.
    1. American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine. The difference between U.S.-trained osteopathic physicians and osteopaths trained abroad. 2017. http://www.aacom.org/become-a-doctor/about-om/US-vs-abroad. Accessed 8 Dec 2017.

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources