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Learning physiotherapy: students' ways of experiencing the patient encounter
1Faculty of Health Sciences, Linkopings Universitet, Sweden. madab@inr.lui.se
Background And Purpose:
The aim of this paper was to describe and analyse the impact of formal education and professional experience on physiotherapy students' ways of experiencing interaction within a patient encounter.
Method:
Two groups of physiotherapy students were interviewed on two occasions; during the second and last term of their formal education programme, and during the last term and after 18 months' professional experience. Data were subjected to a qualitative analysis. Changes in conceptions between the two interview occasions were described quantitatively.
Results:
Subjects' ways of experiencing interaction within a patient encounter could be described in four main categories: Mutuality; Technicalism; Authority and Juxtaposition. Mutuality and Technicalism denoted an integration of the communicative and problem-solving processes involved in the encounter, the former category from a patient-centred and the latter from a physiotherapist-centred perspective. Authority and Juxtaposition denoted a separation of the processes, the former from a physiotherapist-centred perspective and the latter from a patient-centred one.
Conclusions:
The results show a trend as regards direction of change in conceptions from separated to integrated perspectives on the communicative and problem-solving processes after the formal education programme. After 18 months' professional practice the Mutuality category dominated.