How I View the Future of Physical Therapists (Changes in My Thinking Over the Past Year)

A year ago, I thought about the future of physical therapists primarily from the perspective of "individual expertise". Even in a situation where the number of physical therapists is increasing and salary growth cannot be expected, I clearly believed that honing knowledge, experience, and skills in the medical field and possessing an expertise that allows one to say, "This is my physical therapy" would lead to future value. In other words, I think I placed the source of value within the individual physical therapist. I also had expectations for the possibility of being able to define my own physical therapy more clearly through the introduction of "world-class education" in Japan.

However, as I continued to think about this for a year, my questions seem to have changed little by little. Currently, my interest has shifted not only to what kind of skills an individual possesses, but to the very structure surrounding the profession, such as "what is considered value in the first place" and "who evaluates that value". Regarding international standards, I have come to think that we should not aim for them as an end in themselves, but rather view them as a means to share scientific methods and ethics, and that we need to consider the purpose and value of physical therapy in response to social issues unique to Japan.

Looking at the future predictions of veteran physical therapists from this perspective, I can see that they are capturing the same future from a different level. Veteran predictions are based on the "decline in scarcity value" that has sustained the profession until now, and they depict changes in the labor market and professional structure, such as "a decrease in job openings, lower compensation, the fluidization of employment forms, and the weeding out of training schools". On the other hand, I felt that my current interest lies in the flow where existing value standards themselves are shaken by these changes, and the possibility that "the evaluation axes that determine the value of physical therapists and the roles of the profession itself will be reconstructed" is emerging.

A year ago, I kept thinking seriously about "how to survive as a physical therapist", but now it seems I am thinking about "how to position the existence of physical therapists within society".

In other words, a year ago I was thinking about "what I should acquire". And now, I am thinking about "what kind of society we should create that values certain things". I realized that what changed was not my interest in physical therapy, but "the very position from which I view value" itself.