RESUMO
The study dealt with the question of the factors that influenced the establishment of schools of Allied Health Professions. The experiences of selected countries in both the developed and developing worlds in the area of training of allied health clinicians and the utilization of their services, were compared to efforts made by the Trinidad and Tobago society in these areas. Data from this part of the investigation served as basis to determine the outcome of current efforts to establish the Regional College of Allied Health Sciences in Trinidad and Tobago. In order to determine what are the factors that could influence the establishment of the proposed college, the case study method was used. A two-part questionnaire was mailed to a sample population made up of students from developing countries undergoing training in allied health at the University of Pittsburgh and the Carlow College in Pittsburgh, faculty members at these facilities associated with allied health education and training in developing countries; students and faculty in allied health training in Trinidad and Tobago and the faculty members of the UNDP/WHO/PAHO training school in Barbados. The total sample population was 222. There was an 81 percent return rate. The first part of the questionnaire sought to arrive at the kinds of benefits and to determine who will be the beneficiaries of the proposed college. The responses were arranged in a matrix design. The second part of the questionnaire focused on the societal and sociological factors that could impact on efforts to establish the college.Frequency percentage statistics were employed as an evaluatiive tool for both sets of data. The results showed that the public would benefit most from the effort in the area of improved health service. The analysis of the data also indicated that economics would play the major role in final decision, as to whether the college would be established and would be the significant factor in attempts to raise the quality of education and training of allied health clinicians. Even though this barrier is overcome, the future role of the graduate allied health clinician on the health-care team and his status in the society would depend largely on the reaction of the other members of the health-care team in accepting him as a health care professional and whether the public would be inclined to be less apprehensive of his ability to carry out health-care procedures as effectively and efficiently as the other members of the team. To increase the likelihood of positive result of the efforts to establish the college and to insure some degree of acceptance of the graduates, the sponsoring agency, faculty, student, staff and groups of practicing allied health clinicians must aim toward professionalizing the discipline and occupation of allied health (SUMMARY)
