Characterization of physiotherapy training in European countries Caracterización de la formación en fisioterapia en países europeos

Abstract

University education is facing new challenges, resulting from socioeconomic and political processes at the local, regional, national and international level, in the face of which educational institutions and professions must propose strategies to have a reading of their realities, as support for developments. with a prospective and quality vision. This article is built from the results obtained in a research study, whose objective was to describe physiotherapy training in European countries, focusing on aspects such as the level of training, the number of credits established in the curriculum, the duration and training profiles. The method used was a mixed concurrent method with a descriptive design, taking the Universities' Web pages as sources of information. Descriptive statistics and the Atlas Ti 6.0 computer tool were used. and Wolcott's Triad for information analysis. 93 physiotherapy programs offered by universities located in the northeastern, western and southern regions of Europe were identified. These were developed in 16 member countries of the European Union and in two outside it (Norway and Switzerland), in institutions
private (56%) and public (34%), with a level of professional training / Bachelor (78%), duration of 3 to 4 years and extension in academic credits for the majority of 180-240. The determined and emerging analysis categories for the training profiles indicate greater agreement between the programs for what is defined in the
occupational profile than what is established for the professional profile.