Primary Care as a practice and learning setting in the education of physiotherapists in Brazil: the perception of students, professionals and users

Abstract

This study aimed to understand the meaning of the experience of the Physiotherapy curricular internship in Primary Health Care (PHC) practice settings. A qualitative research (case study) was carried out based on semi-structured interviews with Physiotherapy students, supervisors, health professionals and users (n=20). The textual material was interpreted by content analysis. The internship in PHC proved to be an important curricular component of the Physiotherapy undergraduate course. It provided opportunities for knowing and problematizing the uniqueness of life in the territories and established bonds between students and users-families. It strengthened the professional identity of the physiotherapist through the team’s and users’ recognition of the role played by physiotherapy in PHC. Barriers were perceived due to the absence of the physiotherapist in the PHC team and to the fact that interaction with the team was restricted to certain professionals, limiting the analysis of the internship experience in its interprofessional perspective.