With regard to the length and detail required in the process of registering with the Order, the Installing Committee of the Order of Physiotherapists clarifies that the composition of the registration form was designed with the help of experts and tested on a sample of colleagues.
On the one hand, to guarantee the safety of users and, on the other, from an organisational point of view, to be able to understand in some detail who physiotherapists are, what educational profile they have and in what work contexts they work.
Emphasising that the Order also has a role to play in "providing services to its members with regard to professional practice, particularly in relation to information, professional training and technical and legal assistance", understanding the profile of its members is essential for future elected bodies to be able to consider the type of services to be developed, both in direct defence of each individual and in terms of public health.
The IC could have opted for a more simplified registration model, so that it could later deepen its knowledge of its members. This is an opportunity and an initial effort to gather an essential set of information to characterise Portuguese physiotherapists, which is fundamental for physiotherapists to take individual and collective responsibility in their daily practice.
We hope that with the future publicisation of the profile of members of the Order, colleagues will feel that their efforts in filling in the form have paid off.