Canadian physiotherapy grads ‘beyond stressed’ by ongoing delay of certification

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Hundreds of aspiring physiotherapists across Canada have been left with little information after their long-awaited test to become certified was suddenly called off Saturday almost immediately after it began.

The Canadian Alliance of Physiotherapy Regulators canceled the test, which was set to be “the first-ever fully online exam” due to what it describes as “significant technical difficulties.” No date has been set for when the test will proceed, although refunds are being issued.

This abrupt cancellation marks the third delay since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, tests scheduled for June and September of 2020 were also called off.

Viivi Riss, president of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association, says the backlog of graduates waiting to be licensed is causing stress for candidates, and exacerbating a shortage of physios in the healthcare system.

“Our position is that this is not acceptable. We can’t just roll out another test in a few weeks for these candidates these graduated physiotherapists, they need to get on with working,” she says.

“With COVID, there’s a huge role for physiotherapists to play in managing management of COVID in the hospital setting, as well as dealing with the impacts of COVID in the long term for people who have suffered it. Nevermind that elective surgeries have been postponed. There’s a backlog of people having knee replacements, hip replacements who haven’t had the appropriate physiotherapy. Not being able to get our graduates licenced means that there are fewer physiotherapists, in an already overburdened rehabilitation system. It just can’t stand the way it is. We just can’t keep putting barriers in place so Canadians can’t get the right treatment when they need it.”

Spoke with the head of @PhysioCan today about the sudden cancellation of online certifications this weekend for hundreds of would-be physiotherapists. Association warns of impact on surgical wait lists and #COVID recovery. @NEWS1130 https://t.co/hfTGng55GI

— Paul James (小保) (@pjimmyradio) March 21, 2021

While there were roughly 450 registered for this weekend’s exam, Riss says there is an additional backlog of thousands more.

Riis says members of the association were assured that a  “COVID-proof” virtual test would put an end to the delays.

“When we discovered that it couldn’t run [Saturday], we realized we’ve got these people who have paid a lot of money for education they graduated successfully from a physiotherapy program, and now they can’t get their licence, they can’t get a job, they can’t earn the money that they need to earn to pay back student loans, and they can’t treat Canadians who need treatment,” she says.

Normally the test would be done soon after graduation, meaning the information would be relatively fresh. The delays are creating stress, anxiety, and added expenses, according to Riis.

“Many of them are more than a year post-graduation, they’re paying to take sort of refresher courses. Many of them did just prior to yesterday’s scheduled exam and then the exam is cancelled again due to this system failure. So, they are stressed beyond belief,” she says.

“We talk about mental health issues in COVID. So, not only have they been living through COVID, they’re going into a profession that treats patients with COVID for COVID symptoms and problems, and now they, they can’t get their licence, they are out of pocket. We need to do something quite different, we need to do it very quickly to ensure that these graduate physiotherapists can hit the ground running.”