General practitioners' perspectives of education and collaboration with physiotherapists in Primary Health Care: A discourse analysis

Abstract

This paper explores the educational factors that underlie the poor collaboration between general practitioners (GPs) and physiotherapists (PTs) in Primary Health Care (PHC), from the GP's perspective. This study was conducted in Majorca, the Balearic Islands (Spain). Participants were nine GPs who graduated from different universities in mainland Spain. A discourse analysis study was developed employing the social–critical paradigm as theoretical framework and in-depth interviews for data collection. The perceived lack of knowledge about physiotherapy was considered by the interviewees as a major factor in the current poor communication between GPs and PTs. The individual learning during medical studies and poor interprofessional learning during clinical residency influenced their gatekeeper role, putting at risk the equity of the health system. Collaboration was considered beneficial for patients but challenging to improve in context due to multiple factors ranging from individual to systemic. The latter encompasses inadequate resources and organization for interprofessional learning. There is a need to further explore other factors influencing the poor collaboration, including PTs' views on this process.

Keywords::

• Collaborative practice
• discourse analysis
• general practice
• interprofessional education
• physiotherapy
• Primary Health Care