Learning physiotherapy: students' ways of experiencing the patient encounter.

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.