Rehabilitation healthcare professionals' perceptions of professional responsibility: a focus group study in Italy

Background and aim of the work: Italian Law no. 24/17 has updated the Italian legislation regarding healthcare professional responsibility. In practice, all eight healthcare professionals (Physical therapists, Speech therapists, Professional educators, Orthoptists, etc.) have well-defined areas of activity and responsibility. This research aims to investigate how rehabilitation healthcare professionals perceive responsibility in the professional life. Gaining new insights could improve the healthcare process and support Rehabilitation Professionals in their daily care assignments. Methods: a qualitative pilot study was conducted using a focus group consisting of rehabilitation professionals enrolled with a convenience sampling in the Master’s Degree program in Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Padova in 2019. Out of the 39 invited, 26 Rehabilitation Professionals responded (66.7%), including Physical Therapists, Speech Therapists, Professional Educators, and Orthoptist. The Focus Group discussed the teamwork dynamics, the relationship between the participants and the organization, and the caregivers in rehabilitation care. Results: the analysis (performed at micro, meso and macro-level) highlighted that respondents perceived professional responsibility as a dilemma, because it is identified as a continuous balancing between external and internal pressures regarding professional competence, professional autonomy, teamwork, and social matters. Conclusions: rehabilitation professionals seem to experience plenty of dilemmas because they felt that their responsibility was a constant challenge of weighing pros and cons. Rehabilitation professionals need genuine autonomy recognition at every level of their practice to cope with the professional responsibility daily. This analysis helped highlight the emerging issues that need to be addressed in everyday practice.