Cardiorespiratory physiotherapy as a career choice—perspective of students and physiotherapists in Portugal

ABSTRACT

We investigated Portuguese physiotherapy students’ and physiotherapists’ (1) perceptions of cardiorespiratory physiotherapy (CRP); (2) factors that influenced their decision to pursue a career in CRP; and (3) suggestions to develop CRP. Online surveys were disseminated to final year students and physiotherapists. A number of 189 students (mean age 23 [SD 6] years; 78% ♀) and 375 physiotherapists (mean age 31 [SD 8] years; 78% ♀) participated. Students’ opinions about CRP were positively influenced by lecturers (n = 112, 69%), clinical experiences (n = 110, 68%), and scientific evidence (n = 93, 57%). Only 13% of students were “extremely interested” in specializing in CRP. Interest in the area and clinical exposure were the main factors influencing students to pursue a career in CRP. A percentage of 15 of responding physiotherapists were working in CRP. Their decision to pursue a CRP career was most influenced by their interest in the area (n = 37, 67%) and opportunity to work in acute settings (n = 31; 56%). Main suggestions to develop CRP were (1) include placements in CRP; (2) emphasize health promotion within the curriculum; and (3) develop CRP skills in broader contexts and training. Strategies focusing on changing the curriculum, increasing exposure to CRP, providing good mentorship, developing health promotion activities, and creating postgraduate courses may increase the attractiveness for CRP.

KEYWORDS:

• Physical therapy specialty
• physical therapists
• physical therapy students

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge all institutions currently offering the physiotherapy course in Portugal and the Portuguese Association of Physiotherapists for their contribution. We are also very grateful to all participants and to Ana Barbosa for conducting the focus groups during the piloting of the online surveys.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interests.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia), through iBiMED (UID/BIM/04501/2013 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007628- iBiMED) and CIDMA—Center for Research and Development in Mathematics and Applications (UID/MAT/04106/2013).