PROFESSIONAL AUTONOMY: PERCEPTION OF KINESIOLOGISTS / PHYSIOTHERAPISTS IN LATIN AMERICA

S. Bittner^1,2, P. Figueroa González^3,2, K.M. Alvis^4,2

Background: In 2011, the WCPT issues a report on the defense of direct access, which it assures will allow users to meet the goals of physiotherapy/kinesiology. Physiotherapy/kinesiology training prepares you to be self-employed first-contact professionals, capable of examining, evaluating, diagnosing, forecasting, intervening-treating, determining results, and discharging patients without a referral from another health professional or another. The available evidence indicates that: Direct access to physical therapy as a "service delivery model" is safe, effective, and acceptable. (SME *). It is likely to result in savings in healthcare costs and the quality of care improves.

Purpose: To describe and analyze the conceptual framework that Latin American kinesiologists/physiotherapists have about professional autonomy and the need to achieve it.

Methods: The method of the study was quantitative, descriptive, prospective, and transversal.  The population was the Physiotherapist/Kinesiologist of the South America Region of the WCPT, which according to data from 2017 in the WCPT was equivalent to 350,221 physiotherapists / Kinesiologists (out of a total of 1,587,607 FT / Kin in the world).  According to a formula for a finite population, a representative sample for each country was calculated, assuming a confidence level of 95% and a precision level of 99%. A semi-structured survey was designed and sent via online through the Google Drive platform, it was available until September 30, 2019. The survey was designed by the researchers, then underwent validation by experts, who were the regional members of CLADEFK, thus ensuring understanding of the questions in the countries to be applied. In addition, he became a pilot in an intentional sample. It had the approval of the bioethics committee and informed consent. The survey was disseminated through the regional representatives of CLADEFK, social networks (Linkedin), BBDD of professional associations.

Results: There were 1,165 surveys, of which 80% were concentrated in three countries in the region (Colombia, Chile, Argentina). From the perception of the professionals in physiotherapy /kinesiology, 40% of respondents consider themselves autonomous, and just 45% of the respondents consider that the university prepared them for autonomy. 46% of the respondents consider that they were given tools to be autonomous. Among the advantages of professional autonomy is the independence and development of the profession.  Autonomy is mainly understood as the ability to make decisions, and in the last places as being a professional in the first consultation. Lack of autonomy is understood as dependence on the doctor (referral, decisions). The advantages of being an autonomous focus on being responsible for decision-making and giving value to the profession.The responsibilities of being a freelancer focus on developing clinical skills and ethical responsibility.

Conclusion(s): The first contact in Physiotherapy/Kinesiology can have different meanings, requiring therefore to unify concepts, criteria, and pressing lines of action from a joint work perspective. It is then required to identify the starting point to develop a regional work that allows establishing convergences and divergences.

Implications: The study direction that we have to emphasize in the collaborative work between countries to develop the necessary actions to develop the autonomous thinking and the autonomous competencies in our professionals. 

Funding, acknowledgements: Centro Latinoamericano para el Desarrollo de la Fisioterapia/Kinesiología- CLADEFK

Keywords: Autonomy, Professionalism, Profesional Development

Topic: Education

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: UNIVERSIDAD FINIS TERRAE

Committee: Comité Ético Científico Universidad Finis Terrae

Ethics number: Resolución No. 28/2018