Teaching person-centered practice to pre-registration physiotherapy students: a qualitative study.

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Physiotherapy Practice
• Patient-Centered Care

Background:

• Healthcare systems increasingly advocate for person-centered approaches.
• Integrating person-centered care principles into physiotherapy education is crucial.
• Pre-registration training must equip students with skills for individualized patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore first-year physiotherapy students' practice philosophies.
• To understand how students envision implementing person-centered care in clinical settings.

Main Methods:

• Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 first-year physiotherapy students.
• Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the interview data.

Main Results:

• Five key themes emerged: understanding the patient, contextual influences on person-centered practice, student personality traits, performing "small things," and the person-centered learning curve.
• Students emphasized understanding the individual and their priorities as central to their practice.
• Despite resource limitations, students aimed to perform small, meaningful actions for patients.

Conclusions:

• Understanding the patient's perspective is fundamental to physiotherapy students' practice philosophy.
• Student physiotherapists use interpersonal skills and "small acts" to foster patient connection.
• Clinical placements are vital for developing person-centered skills introduced during university education.