Delegation is the process of entrusting authority and responsibility to others. The support worliforce across the whole health care sector in some countries is growing in terms of number and developing in relation to its scope of activity but it appears as if Nigerian physiotherapists are divided in opinion on utilization ofmiddle level workers and there is still dearth ofempirical data to establish this. The primary aim ofthis study was to determine the opinions of physiotherapists on the utilization of physiotherapy assistants in delivering care and services. One hundred and jifty sevenphysiotherapists were surveyedfrom State and Teaching Hospitals in Nigeria using a purposive sampling technique. A structured q'uestionnaire was used to obtain demographic data, views and opinions about the training of physiotherapy assistants. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The result showed that 71.8% of the respondents supported the usage of physiotherapy assistants as middle level workers. Also, 65.3% of the respondents supported the training of physiotherapy assistants. Furthermore, this study found that 87.3% ofthe respondents are aware that physiotherapists may delegate part oftheir duties to physiotherapy assistants. This study concluded that majority of the Nigeria physiotherapists surveyed in this study supported the usage and training of physiotherapy.

 

Keywords: Delegation, Physiotherapy Assistants, Middle level workers, Training.