Physiotherapy undergraduates’ knowledge and expectations of professional practice in primary health care

ABSTRACT The consolidation of SUS led to a new concept of health no longer focused on the absence of diseases. The strengthening of actions at the primary level was necessary, therefore the National Policy of Primary Care was created to promote, protect and rehabilitate people’s health. Physiotherapy had to undergo a series of adjustments in order to fit the primary care system and, according to the National Curriculum Guidelines, undergraduate courses should observe the new models of health care. The objective was to assess the knowledge and expectations of Physiotherapy undergraduate students in the Porto Alegre and surrounding cities about the physiotherapist’s role in primary care. The study was descriptive, observational, and cross-sectional. An online survey was conducted with 13 objective and dissertation questions. The chi-square test was used to verify associations and significance was found when p≤0.05. A total of 171 Physiotherapy undergraduate students (90.53% females, aging between 18 and 55 years) agreed to participate. A minority of participants correctly registered four activities to be developed and four places of practice for physiotherapists in primary care. Unspecific terms like “promotion” and “prevention” were used to describe the activities, while “Healthcare Units” was the most frequently cited place. Among our sample, 43.2% stated feeling prepared to act in primary care and 53.25% considered as an option to work in primary care. In conclusion, although participants showed limited knowledge about primary care, they mostly feel satisfied with the knowledge acquired on this topic.

摘要
SUS（巴西统一卫生系统）的整合催生了全新的健康理念，该理念不再以无病状态为核心。强化基层卫生服务行动已成必要之举，因此国家基层卫生保健政策（National Policy of Primary Care）应运而生，旨在促进、保护并恢复民众的健康水平。为适配基层卫生保健体系，物理治疗学（Physiotherapy）需进行一系列调整；同时根据《国家课程指导纲要》（National Curriculum Guidelines），本科阶段课程应遵循全新的卫生保健服务模式。本研究旨在评估阿雷格里港及周边城市的物理治疗学本科学生对理疗师在基层卫生保健中角色的认知与期望。本研究为描述性观察性横断面研究，采用在线问卷形式，共包含13道客观题与论述题。采用卡方检验（chi-square test）验证变量间的相关性，当p≤0.05时认为结果具有统计学显著性。最终共有171名物理治疗学本科学生参与本研究，其中女性占比90.53%，年龄分布在18至55岁之间。仅有少数参与者能正确列举出理疗师在基层卫生保健中应开展的4项工作内容与4个执业场所。参与者多使用"健康促进"与"疾病预防"这类宽泛术语描述相关工作内容，而"卫生保健机构（Healthcare Units）"是被提及最多的执业场所。在本次研究样本中，43.2%的参与者表示已做好在基层卫生保健领域执业的准备，另有53.25%的参与者将在基层卫生保健领域工作视为职业选择之一。综上，尽管参与者对基层卫生保健的认知水平有限，但多数人对本研究主题相关的所学知识感到满意。