Organizations: for providing healthcare and working in medical care abroad

What is working as a physiotherapist abroad like?

• Physiotherapists are increasingly in demand worldwide, especially in countries where healthcare is developing or where sports tourism and rehabilitation are on the rise. As a physiotherapist, you combine medical knowledge with personal guidance, which is useful anywhere in the world, whether you work in a hospital, rehabilitation center, seaside practice, or volunteer project in the mountains.
• Responsibilities: As a physiotherapist, you will be involved in:
  • Treating patients with injuries, chronic pain, or mobility problems.
  • Developing exercise and rehabilitation programs.
  • Humanitarian and development projects—for example, rehabilitation projects for children with disabilities, accident victims, or people with polio. Facilities are limited, so your knowledge literally makes the difference.
  • Training and supervising local staff in physiotherapy or rehabilitation care.
  • Advising NGOs, schools, or sports centers on injury prevention.
  • Working with special target groups such as the elderly, athletes, or people with disabilities.
• You can work at rehabilitation centers, sports clinics, hospitals, or physiotherapy practices, for example, at expat destinations or resorts.
• Working conditions (salary, compensation, and expenses): In paid positions, you usually earn a local salary or receive an expense allowance with room and board. In developing countries or volunteer projects, the emphasis is more on gaining experience and transferring knowledge than on earning money. In expat clinics or tourist areas (such as Australia or Spain), salaries are generally higher.

What are the reasons for working as a physiotherapist abroad?

• To improve your adaptability: working with limited resources requires creativity; a towel as an exercise band, a wall as a balance support. You will figure it out.
• To improve your communication: you will learn to clearly explain complex exercises and advice, even when language or culture poses a barrier.
• To increase your cultural awareness: you will learn how people think differently about pain, recovery, and health, broadening your perspective as a professional.
• To develop your problem-solving skills: you will adapt existing techniques to local circumstances and devise new ways to promote recovery.
• To learn to take responsibility: depending on the situation, you will sometimes work in a small team, or even alone. That means that you learn to make independent decisions and finding solutions.
• To learn to work more client-focused: you will encounter so many different people and situations that you will naturally become better at adapting to specific clients and circumstances.

What skills and motivations do you need to work as a physiotherapist abroad?

• Organizational awareness: every clinic or organization has their own way of working, from chaotic to tight schedules.
• Self-confidence: it is important to have confidence in your own knowledge and treatment plan, but of course (without losing self-confidence) also to be open to other possibilities.
• Patience: recovery doesn't always go according to plan, especially when resources are limited.
• Professionalism: despite the circumstances, it is important to adhere to hygiene, confidentiality, and professional ethics. Collaborative skills: you often work in multidisciplinary teams with doctors, volunteers, and local staff.

What are the best countries and locations to work as a physiotherapist abroad?

• Humanitarian and development projects: Nepal, Uganda, Cambodia, Tanzania, Malawi. In this countries you will often work with children or people recovering from illnesses and serious accidents.
• Working in hospitals and clinics: United Arab Emirates, Singapore, South Africa, Canada.
• Working in healthcare and rehabilitation centers: Australia, New Zealand, United States, United Kingdom. Physiotherapy is highly regarded here, and specialists in sports rehabilitation, geriatric care, or neurological therapy are often in demand.
• Working with athletes and wellness: Portugal, Spain, Thailand, Mexico. This is particularly in demand in tourist areas and expat communities.
• Volunteer work and community care: Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Peru, Indonesia, Ecuador, Kenya. Ideal for gaining experience with community projects and multidisciplinary teams; you will also sometimes assist with training local aid workers. 

What are the risks of working as a physiotherapist abroad, and how are you insured against those risks?

• What are the risks of working as a physiotherapist abroad?
  • Mental strain is common: working long hours in understaffed teams and cultural differences can lead to burnout, insomnia, or trauma.
  • High stress levels are common: due to responsibility, a strong sense of helpfulness, miscommunication, or cultural and linguistic problems.
  • High workloads are common: due to long hours, staff shortages, or intensive supervision.
  • It is common for the working environment to be unsafe: infrastructure, health risks, political instability, social norms.
  • It is common for accidents to occur due to equipment, exercises with patients, working in extreme heat or cold, which increase the risk of back problems, overexertion or exhaustion.
  • It is common for someone to contract a contagious or local disease such as malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya, rabies, tuberculosis, hepatitis A/E, parasitic infections, or infections when treating wounds. Limited protective equipment, a lack of gloves, disinfection, sterile materials, or safe needles can increase risks, which may result in you being unable to work for a period of time or even having to be flown home.
• Are you insured while working as a physiotherapist abroad?
  • Local employers usually offer no, or limited, supplementary insurance.
  • There is a risk of accidents because, for example, you are doing work with which you have little experience.
  • During work, an internship, or volunteer work abroad for which you receive compensation or a salary, the coverage of your own health insurance in your home country may lapse.
  • There may be several reasons why you need separate insurance when working abroad. Check the following pages: insuring international Insurances for working abroad, for internships abroad, for volunteering abroad, or for expats and emigrants.