The introduction of individual treatment by resident physical therapists in primary care units

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the effect on clinical indicators of the introduction of individual weekly physical therapy sessions in five Primary Health Care units in Porto Alegre, RS. Methods: The medical records from 59 patients were analyzed. They were treated between April 2010 and May 2011 by two physical therapists from the Multidisciplinary Residency Program in Family and Community Health at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul. Data was collected for the determination of the sociodemographic (gender, age, marital status and occupation) and clinical profiles (medical diagnosis, medication intake, number of medications and the presence of pain, dyspnea, or urinary loss). Data was analyzed using Student’s t test, Mann Whitney, Chi-square and Fisher’s exact test; the odds ratio was used when a significant association has been identified. Results: Most participants were female (81.4%), adult (62%), who did not cohabitated (62.7%), domestic workers (35.6%) with musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders (86.4%). Thirty-two participants took medicine at the beginning of the intervention and, at the end, only five did so. After treatment, the amount of administered medications was also significantly reduced. The score of the Visual Analogue Scale (pain or dyspnea) was significantly reduced at the end of an average of 7.7 ± 3.2 sessions. Those users who reported having followed the domiciliary advice had an 8.3 times greater chance of being discharged. Conclusions: The weekly physical therapy sessions carried out at Primary Care units reduced symptoms, the use and amount of medication taken by the users treated and achieved greater success among those who followed the domiciliary advice given by the resident physical therapists