Cuba

Welcome to Worldwide Physical Therapy Practice: a focus on Primary Care Physical Therapy

This is a project created by and for the students in the School of Physical Therapy at the University of St. Augustine in St. Augustine Florida. Please do not edit unless you are involved in this project, but please come back in the near future to check out new information!!

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Patient Access to Physiotherapy or Physical Therapy Services / Entry Point

• Primary medical care in Cuba is community-based. Physicians and nurses provide services in local neighborhood clinics.
  Rehabilitation services are not community-based. Rather, patients are referred to a provincial or city clinic where they are evaluated by an interdisciplinary team, which consists of appropriate specialty physicians and rehabilitation professionals.
  

Therapist Preparation

      Degree/Credentialing

• There are three types of education for physical therapists in Cuba. From the Russian influence, there is a model of medical doctors going for continuing education and becoming physical therapists. This is more like a physiatrist would be in the United States but with more emphasis on treatment. 

Cuba also has four year university-based physical therapist education programs and 2-3 year technical programs similar to the PT Assistant programs in the US. Both tend to fall slightly short of US educational standards and emphasize interventions for musculoskeletal conditions.

      Specialization

• Officers of the professional association are identified as doctors and “Specialists of First (or Second) Degree in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.”

Professional Associations

• Cuban Society of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Medicine

Information about the Patient Community

• What is the population these PT’s serve?
• What are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in the population served?

Social/Cultural Influences

• What is the influence of the family on a patient's health status?
• What are the typical patient's living conditions, family dynamics, and cultural back ground?

Delivery of Care

• Is delivery of care provided in a timely manner?
• Special methods? Home health etc
  

Type of Health System

• Is it a national health system with universal access?
  

Payment System

• What methods to patient use to pay for service? (Insurance, bartering etc.)