Physiotherapy, Primary Care and Interprofessionality: Reflections after the Implementation of a Curricular Internship in the Community

Abstract

One of the fields of action of health professionals is Primary Health Care (PHC). The presence of different professional formations within PHC and the articulation between these professionals is fundamental for the integrality of the assistance provided to the population. Collaborative practices and comprehensive care are essential skills that are common to all professionals working in PHC and in the Family Health Strategy. For the World Health Organization (WHO), Interprofessional Health Learning occurs when students and/or professionals from two or more areas learn from each other, about the work of the other, and from each other, aiming to bring benefits to patients. Thus, this experience report aims to report the experience arising from teaching activities carried out in the academic internship of students from the 7th and 8th terms of the Physiotherapy course at Universidade de Ribeirão Preto (UNAERP). The activities were developed in partnership with the Family Health Team of Unit Dr. Vinício Plastino, in the city of Ribeirão Preto, from February 2018 to December 2019. Such activities result from the implementation of an internship that focuses on the professional's performance of physiotherapy at PHC. Within this unit, students from the Medicine, Pharmacy and Physiotherapy courses worked together. After recognizing the territory and the dynamics of the local Family Health Team, the group of interns started a health education work with actions planned in an interprofessional and collaborative way. Based on the perception of the population's health needs, those actions that the team performs in the territory were aligned to the discipline practices - individual and family registration, territorialization, home visits and health education groups; added by those of health promotion specific to physical therapy. The experience in the territory allowed: expanding the students’ experience in the FHS, enabling observation and reflection on teamwork in this context; and sensitize academics to the health needs of the population and discuss these needs through health education. Through experience, physiotherapy students, along with the team and students from other courses in the health area, it was able to resize the importance and complexity of interprofessional work in PHC and, together, develop or improve skills essential to their profession.