Physiotherapy

Physical therapists evaluate, plan, and implement rehabilitation programs that improve human mobility, maximize range of motion, relieve pain, and treat or prevent physical changes associated with injuries, infections, and other impairments. They apply a wide range of physical therapies and techniques such as movement, ultrasound, heating, laser and other techniques.

Tasks include:

• testing of muscle, nerve, connective and functional ability to identify the patient's physical problem;
• establishing treatment goals with patients and prescribing treatment programs;
• treating patients to reduce pain, improve circulation, strengthen muscles, improve cardiovascular and respiratory systems, restore connective mobility, and improve balance and coordination;
• use of therapeutic possibilities of exercise, heat, cold, massage, manipulation, hydrotherapy, electrotherapy, ultraviolet and infrared rays and ultrasound in the treatment of patients;
• review, ongoing monitoring and evaluation of treatment programs;
• giving instructions to patients and their families in the process of home treatment;
• keeping records of the patient's health status and response to treatment through medical records and sharing that information with other health professionals to ensure continued treatment;
• development and implementation of programs for the protection and prevention of common physical diseases and disorders.

The most general generic competencies at the level of each cycle of education, which must be possessed by every graduated student, regardless of the study program or the institution where he completed his higher education, are defined as:

• Dublin descriptors (Dublin descriptors), which represent a set of criteria on the expected achievements and abilities of students to distinguish different cycles of education, which were proposed by the Joint Quality Initiative (JQI), and which are accepted as the basis of the description of each cycle of education on ministerial meeting in Bergen in May 2005.
• The general framework for qualifications in European higher education (Framework for Qualifications of the European Higher Education - EQF for HE), which was adopted at the ministerial meeting in Bergen in May 2005.

These competencies are categorized as instrumental, interpersonal and systemic:

• Instrumental competencies include:
  • Cognitive abilities, understanding and manipulation of ideas and thoughts.
  • Methodological abilities to communicate with the environment: organizing time and strategies for learning, making decisions or solving problems.
  • Technological abilities related to the use of technological means, computers and the application of information management skills.
  • Language skills such as written and oral communication or knowledge of foreign languages.
• Interpersonal competences: Individual abilities that include the ability to express one's feelings, social skills such as interpersonal skills, working in teams, or expressing social and ethical commitment. These competencies enable processes of social interaction and cooperation.
• System competencies are those skills and abilities that relate to the entire system. They represent a combination of understanding, sensibility and knowledge, with the help of which a person will be able to see the relationship between individual parts and how they make up the whole. These abilities include the ability to plan changes in order to improve existing systems and create new systems. Systemic competences require prior acquisition of instrumental and interpersonal competences

Qualifications representing the successful completion of the first cycle (180-240 ECTS points) are awarded to students who:

• demonstrate knowledge and understanding in the field of study, which builds on their secondary education and is common at first cycle level, supported by appropriate learning resources at higher education level (university textbooks, information and communication technologies), which includes aspects of knowledge of advanced achievements in a given field of study;
• can apply detailed knowledge and critical understanding of the principles related to a given field of study/discipline in a way that shows a professional approach to work or profession, and possess competencies that are usually expressed by the ability to form and support opinions and positions with arguments and the ability to solve problems within the given field of study;
• have the ability to collect and interpret relevant data (within a given field of study) on the basis of which they make judgments that may also include reflections on relevant social scientific or ethical issues;
• they can apply the basic methods of acquiring knowledge and applied research in a given discipline, and are able to decide which approach to use to solve a given problem, and are aware of the extent to which the chosen approach is appropriate for solving such a problem;
• can present and convey information, ideas, problems and solutions to an audience that is specialized in a given field of study, but also to an audience that is not specialized, using the appropriate language (and where appropriate, one or more foreign languages) and using communication tools technology;
• have built learning skills necessary for further study, with a high degree of autonomy and academic skills and properties necessary for research work, understanding and evaluating new information, concepts and evidence from different sources;
• possess the foundation for future self-direction and lifelong learning;
• have acquired interpersonal and teamwork skills, suitable for employment and/or further study.

Physiotherapist (physical therapist) is a health expert who works in the fields of health promotion and prevention, and therapy and rehabilitation with people of all ages, and in a kind of partnership with his clients/patients, he tries to maintain and encourage their health and to replace the functions and independence they lack, due to problems caused by physical, psychological and other disorders and/or disabilities or handicaps arising from these disorders (World Health Organization, 1980 - WCPT, 1995.)

Specific descriptors of health care studies in the "Physiotherapy" program

Study "Physiotherapy” at the Faculty of Health Care provides students with specific professional competencies, i.e. trains students for:

• specific physiotherapy assessment of the patient's status and physical functionality, or users of physiotherapy care and therapy and assessment of the need for physio-therapeutic treatment;
• conducting kinesiometric and other measurements for the purpose of diagnosing the function of the locomotor system, and conducting other diagnostic procedures for which he is authorized;
• planning and programming of standard and special physiotherapeutic procedures in accordance with the needs of the user;
• the choice of appropriate physical means and techniques that depend on knowledge of kinesiology, knowledge of pathophysiological mechanisms that cause movement disorders, knowledge of therapeutic procedures, and knowledge of the effects of physiotherapy treatments, and
• ability to interpret and evaluate treatment effects;
• participation in the education of physiotherapists and other health workers;
• participation in research in the field of physiotherapy, especially in risk groups of the population;
• training for teamwork, especially for the transdisciplinary model of teamwork. The student is trained to communicate with members of various health, therapeutic, rehabilitation, social and educational teams, which facilitates the achievement of therapeutic goals;
• continuous own education, as well as work on improving the profession. Talented graduated physiotherapists will participate in the educational process (students in undergraduate classes and in professional education of other experts in health and other institutions), can be included as instructors in classes, health and social institutions that deal with the implementation of health care, and they will be able to contribute to the efficient organization of physiotherapy activities by participating in the planning of work organization;

With communication competencies and skills, and knowledge of the psychological factors of the therapeutic process, graduated physiotherapists will be able to help develop positive relationships with the patient and his family in order to reduce anxiety and build the motivation necessary in the therapeutic process.

The process of intensive development and application of high technologies in medicine, the hyperproduction of information and the spread of scientific knowledge, the multiplication of specialist knowledge, but also the interdisciplinary character of modern knowledge are reflected in the organization, methodology and didactics of the education of collateral professions in the health field.

This is one of the main reasons that programs in the education of these professions are moving towards the requirements of higher and higher education, which is becoming a standard in the educational systems of developed countries.

The main reasons for founding the "Physiotherapy" study are:

• the need to study the field of physiotherapy and related scientific disciplines that provide a holistic approach to the function of health in an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary manner;
• improvement of health care;
• expanded opportunities for academic education of secondary medical school students;
• the great interest of medical technicians in expanding education and opening the possibility of additional education in the context of lifelong learning (lifelong learning);
• positive experiences of developed countries;
• needs for additional staff in physiotherapy practice;
• the need to introduce the Bologna principles in educational practice in the field of physiotherapy (three-year graduate study, one-semester courses, system of transfer and accumulation of credit points, transparency of acquired education and vertical and horizontal transferability, efficiency and pragmatism of studies, etc.);
• great need for personnel of the above profiles in developed countries, which opens up the possibility of employment abroad.

By mastering the curriculum, students acquire not only appropriate knowledge related to the theoretical understanding of the subject, but also specific skills, that is, abilities and competencies related to the practical and operational application of that knowledge, and the skills necessary for the acquisition of appropriate professional qualifications of students.

Physiotherapists provide health services that help restore body function, improve mobility, reduce and relieve pain, and prevent or limit the permanent physical disability of patients suffering from physical injuries or various diseases. They restore, maintain and improve the overall fitness and health of patients.

Their patients include accident victims and individuals who are incapacitated by spinal disease, arthritis, heart disease, fractures, head injuries and cerebral palsy.

As part of his profession, a physiotherapist is qualified to participate in the patient assessment process, and work in therapy as well as in the areas of prevention and evaluation. He has an ethical and legal responsibility to collect the information necessary to plan and implement a successful physiotherapy treatment (Canadian Association of Physical Therapists, 1986.).

Graduate students and graduate students-specialists from the "Physiotherapy" program are qualified for prestigious professions and jobs:

professional jobs in physical, kinesiology and physiotherapy in specialist areas: physiotherapy in surgery and traumatology, physiotherapy in orthopedics, physiotherapy in cardiology and pulmonology, physiotherapy in rheumatology, physiotherapy in neurology, physiotherapy in pediatrics, physiotherapy in gynecology and obstetrics, physiotherapy in geriatrics, 

then jobs: medical masseur, sports physiotherapist and spa physiotherapist,

then work as an occupational therapist in specialist areas: neuro-developmental and neurological disorders, damage to the musculoskeletal system, psychosocial disorders, or work in occupational rehabilitation therapy in the community,

and managerial and organizational tasks related to the management of physical, physio and spa therapy institutions.

Graduated physiotherapists will provide services to clients/patients in the private and public sector, in outpatient services, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, social care institutions, clinics, schools, sports-recreational and spa-rehabilitation centers, businesses, and users in their own homes. .

Within the studies, the foundations for lifelong professional mobility and permanent professional development were created.

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