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.