Toward Standardization of the Placement Process Used in Full-Time Clinical Education Experiences

Objectives The Clinical Education Workload Management Initiative (the Initiative) is a unique, multiprofessional, jurisdiction-wide approach and reform process enshrined within an industrial agreement. The Initiative enabled significant investment in allied health clinical education across Queensland public health services to address the workload associated with providing pre-entry clinical placements. This paper describes the outcomes of a quality review activity to measure the impact of the Initiative on placement capacity and workload management for five allied health professions. Data related to several key factors impacting on placement supply and demand in addition to qualitative perspectives from workforce surveys are reported. Methods Data from a range of quality review actions including collated placement activity data, and workforce and student cohort statistics were appraised. Stakeholder perspectives reported in surveys were analysed for emerging themes. Results Placement offers showed an upward trend in the context of increased university program and student numbers and in contrast with a downward trend in full-time equivalent (FTE) staff numbers. Initiative-funded positions were identified as a major factor in individual practitioners taking more students, and staff and managers valued the Initiative-funded positions’ support before and during placements, in the coordination of placements, and in building partnerships with universities. Conclusions The Initiative enabled a co-ordinated response to meeting placement demand and enhanced collaborations between the health and education sectors. Sustaining pre-entry student placement provision remains a challenge for the future. What is known about the topic? The literature clearly identifies factors impacting on increasing demand for clinical placements and a range of strategies to increase clinical placement capacity. However, reported initiatives have mostly been ad hoc or reactive responses, often isolated within services or professions. What does this paper add? This paper describes implementation of a clinical placement capacity building initiative within public sector health services developed from a unique opportunity to provide funding through an industrial agreement. The Initiative aimed to address the workload associated with clinical education of pre-entry students and new graduates. What are the implications for practitioners? This paper demonstrates that systematic commitment to, and funding of, clinical education across a jurisdiction’s public health services is able to increase placement capacity, even when staffing numbers are in decline.

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Seton Hall University Doctor of Science Degree Program

American Journal of Audiology ◽

10.1044/1059-0889(2004/003) ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 9-15

Author(s):

Janet Koehnke ◽

Joan Besing ◽

Kelly Shea-Miller ◽

Brett Martin

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Clinical Education ◽

Doctoral Program ◽

Full Time ◽

Research Experience ◽

Science Degree ◽

Course Work ◽

Close Proximity ◽

Clinical Practica ◽

The University

This article provides an overview of the clinical doctoral program in audiology at Seton Hall University. It is a full-time, 4-year program that includes academic course work, clinical practica, and research experience. In concert with the university mission, the program is designed to enable students to develop the skills they need to be leaders in the field of audiology, providing assessment and intervention to individuals with hearing problems and enhancing the knowledge base of the profession. As part of the School of Graduate Medical Education, students in the program have access to a wealth of resources in related health professions. The close proximity to New York City provides many opportunities for outstanding clinical education with a diverse population.

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Student mental health and clinical education: exploring the DCE experience

The Journal of Clinical Education in Physical Therapy ◽

10.52214/jcept.v3.5229 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

Author(s):

Bridget R. Eubanks ◽

Chad Cook ◽

Katherine Myers

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Clinical Experience ◽

Clinical Education ◽

Physical Therapist ◽

Binary Logistic Regression ◽

Health Concern ◽

Full Time ◽

Student Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Concern ◽

Mental Health Challenges

Purpose: There is a potential link between the clinical education phase of a physical therapist’s education and increased incidence of student mental health challenges. The Director of Clinical Education (DCE) has a complex role in supporting students and clinical sites during clinical education experiences (CEEs.) The purposes of this study were to explore DCE’s experiences and perceptions with supporting students with mental health challenges during CEEs. Methods: Two-hundred-twenty DCEs from accredited Doctor of Physical Therapy programs were invited to participate in an electronic survey. Survey questions included demographics, institutional and curricular characteristics, and current perceptions/experiences with student mental health challenges. DCEs (n = 106; 48.2%) responded and were included in the analyses. Analyses included descriptive statistics, simple frequencies, and binary logistic regression. Incident coding processes analyzed responses of open-ended questions. Results: Seventy-four percent of respondents indicated awareness of a student(s) experiencing a mental health concern during a full-time clinical experience in the past 3 years. Regression analyses showed that length of terminal clinical experience, out-of-state placement, cohort size, and availability of online/video counseling were related to prevalence of DCE’s experience. Forty-six percent of DCEs indicated feeling prepared to deal with these issues, while 35% were ‘unsure’. DCEs indicated experience, training, and workload support as contributors to successfully supporting students. Conclusion: Results contribute to the emerging understanding of the prevalence of student mental health challenges in physical therapist education from the DCE’s perspective. Our findings suggest that institutional and curricular characteristics are potential contributors to the prevalence of this issue. We recommend training and institutional support for the DCE in these situations.

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Clinical Education in Athletic Training

Athletic Training Education Journal ◽

10.4085/120146 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 46-50 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jessica R. Edler ◽

Lindsey E. Eberman ◽

Stacy Walker

Keyword(s):

Patient Care ◽

Athletic Training ◽

Clinical Education ◽

Best Practice ◽

Full Time ◽

Clinical Integration ◽

Integration Model ◽

Program Administrators ◽

Course Work ◽

Classroom Laboratory

Context: Clinical education is a foundational component of healthcare education by which students acquire, practice, and demonstrate competency in clinical proficiencies through classroom, laboratory, and clinical experiences. Currently, the most common practice of clinical education in athletic training is clinical integration. Objective: The purposes of this article are to describe how athletic training and similar health professions implement clinical education and to present clinical immersion as an alternative to clinical integration. Background: Clinical education is delivered differently across healthcare disciplines. Some disciplines use clinical immersion, while others use clinical integration. Some professions have specific requirements, while others are left to the discretion of the program administrators. However, few professions are measuring the effectiveness of each, leading to questions about best-practice models in clinical education. Description: Clinical integration occurs when students complete clinical and didactic course work concurrently, while in the clinical immersion model, students are immersed in patient care full time with little or no didactic course work. A hybrid model of clinical education includes both integration and immersion. Clinical Advantage(s): Preliminary research within nursing suggests that students engaged in clinical immersion perform better on certification examinations than do those from an integration model. The clinical immersion model is enhanced by the implementation of standardized patients and simulations to prepare students for immersive experiences. These encounters provide an opportunity for students to demonstrate competency before engaging in patient care, which promotes patient safety. Conclusion(s): Program administrators have the opportunity and professional responsibility to explore different curricular models and to ultimately develop better methods of preparing future athletic trainers. Moreover, educators have a responsibility to measure and report outcomes to help provide a body of knowledge regarding best practices in clinical education.

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Impact of In-class Patient and Integrated Clinical Experiences on Physical Therapist Students’ Clinical Performance

The Journal of Clinical Education in Physical Therapy ◽

10.52214/jcept.v3.6197 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

Author(s):

Jamie Bayliss

Keyword(s):

Clinical Education ◽

Physical Therapist ◽

Clinical Performance ◽

Cohort Analysis ◽

Full Time ◽

Clinical Experiences ◽

Data Set ◽

Final Assessment ◽

Mesh Terms ◽

Significant Difference

Rationale: A variety of clinical education (CE) exist. Models emphasizing full-time clinical experiences (FTCE) have higher number of full-time hours (high-hours) with less prior didactic preparation and integration with the curriculum. Models including integrated clinical experiences (ICE), part-time ICE (PTICE), and in-class patient experiences (IcPE) integrate experiences with didactic content but include a lower number of full-time hours (low-hours). The purpose of this study is to determine if a re-designed CE curricular model that emphasized IcPEs and ICE with low-hours better prepares students than a version that emphasized FTCEs with high-hours as measured by scores on the Clinical Performance Instrument (CPI). Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted on a data set of 183 Doctor of Physical Therapy students who participated in an initial and final terminal CE experience. Data included student pre-admission data, demographics, and evaluation type, period, and rating for all 18 CPI criteria for the initial and final terminal CE experiences. Data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics. Results: A statistically significant difference was found between cohorts for the initial terminal CE experience midterm assessment. One CPI factor was significant on the initial terminal CE experience final assessment and the final terminal CE experience midterm assessment (p < .05). Within cohort analysis for all three CPI factors at all assessment periods were statistically significant. Conclusion: All students significantly improved from midterm to final assessment periods of the initial and final terminal CE experiences. Therefore, IcPE, allowing faculty to mentor and provide feedback to students should be considered an alternative to FTCE prior to students’ initial terminal CE experience. MeSH Terms: curriculum, education, students

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Receptivity to Full-Time Early Clinical Education Experience

Physical Therapy ◽

10.1093/ptj/61.8.1168 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 61 (8) ◽

pp. 1168-1172 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Paulette M Kondela ◽

Richard E Darnell

Keyword(s):

Clinical Education ◽

Full Time ◽

Education Experience

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Investigating the Influence that Service in a Pro Bono Clinic has on a First Full-Time Clinical Education Experience from the Perspective of Students and their Clinical Instructors

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice ◽

10.46743/1540-580x/2020.1944 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ellen Erdman ◽

Jill Black ◽

Sandra Campbell ◽

Tim Golder ◽

Stephen Grazioli ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Student Perceptions ◽

Clinical Education ◽

Qualitative Methodology ◽

Full Time ◽

Student Readiness ◽

Education Experience ◽

Interaction Interaction ◽

Pro Bono ◽

Data Points ◽

Physical Therapy Programs

Purpose: Academic physical therapy programs strive to foster student readiness for full-time clinical education experiences in a variety of ways. This research looks at one program who has students participate in a student-run pro bono clinic for at least 60 hours prior to the first full-time clinic experience. The purpose of the study is to explore the influence that participation in this pro bono clinic has on a first full-time clinical education experience from the perspective of both the student and the clinical instructor (CI). Methods: Qualitative methodology was employed to gain the perspectives of 29 students and their respective CIs. Data collection included student journals and focus groups, and CI Likert-scale rankings and open-ended questions upon midterm calls. Data points were triangulated through iterative data analysis. Results: CIs rated students high in the eight categories that were triangulated to student data. The themes that were strongest among both students and Cis included comfort with client interaction, interaction with CIs, and cultural competency. Additional themes included documentation, interprofessional interaction, examination, clinical reasoning and intervention. An overarching theme was that students were well-prepared and functioning at high levels of competency for a first full-time clinical experience. Conclusions: Participation in a student-run pro bono clinic helps to facilitate student readiness for a first full-time clinical education experience according to both student perceptions and CI ratings.

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Objectives to Assess Student Readiness for First, Full-Time Clinical Education Experiences in Physical Therapist Education

Journal of Physical Therapy Education ◽

10.1097/jte.0000000000000151 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 34 (3) ◽

pp. 242-251

Author(s):

Anne-Marie Dupre ◽

J. Adrienne McAuley ◽

Ellen Wetherbee

Keyword(s):

Clinical Education ◽

Physical Therapist ◽

Full Time ◽

Student Readiness ◽

Physical Therapist Education ◽

Therapist Education

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Influence that Service in a Pro Bono Clinic has on a First Full-Time Physical Therapy Clinical Education Experience

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice ◽

10.46743/1540-580x/2017.1624 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Daria Porretta ◽

Jill Black ◽

Kerstin Palombaro ◽

Ellen Erdman

Keyword(s):

Physical Therapy ◽

Focus Group ◽

Clinical Experience ◽

Clinical Education ◽

Full Time ◽

Clinical Instructors ◽

Clinical Experiences ◽

Education Experience ◽

Pro Bono ◽

The Impact

Purpose: Physical therapist education programs strive to prepare their students for full-time clinical experiences in a variety of ways. Experiential and service learning in authentic contexts reportedly help students make connections between the classroom and the clinic. The purpose of this study was to explore the influences that service in a physical therapy pro bono clinic has on a first full-time clinical education experience. Methods: Participants were all third year doctoral physical therapy students at Widener University who were entering their first full-time clinical education experience. Sixteen participants kept journals throughout their first full-time clinical experience regarding the impact of their previous pro bono experience. Upon completion of the 10-week full-time clinical experience, the sixteen participants answered a Likert-scale survey to further delineate the influence of the pro bono experience, and fifteen of the participants participated in focus group discussions to further explore themes that emerged from the journal and survey data. Data from the focus group and journals were analyzed qualitatively. The responses from the surveys provided quantitative data. In addition, the researchers looked at the Clinical Instructors (CI) midterm comments on the APTA’s Clinical Performance Instrument (APTA PT CPI WEB) to further corroborate or disconfirm the findings. Results: Triangulation of the data points revealed 9 categories of positive impact that the pro bono experience had on their first full-time clinical experience. The strongest three categories in order were client interaction, clinical instructor interaction, and professional communication. The next five categories were of relative equal strength and related to specifics areas of competency. They were competency in documentation, evaluation, intervention, clinical reasoning and cultural competency. A final overarching category was increased confidence. CI comments on the midterm CPI corroborated these findings. Participants also shared ways in which the pro bono experience could have better prepared them for their full-time clinical experience. Conclusions: Regular participation in a pro bono clinic throughout the didactic portion of the physical therapy curriculum contributed to student confidence and competence in their first full-time clinical experience. Future research should include interviews with the clinical instructors to further corroborate the student perceptions. The findings of this study also serve to inform how the pro bono clinical experience can be enhanced to further contribute positively to the students’ first full-time clinical experiences.

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A Description of Current Curricular Design Models Used In Physical Therapy Clinical Education and Their Relationship to Pass Rates on the National Physical Therapy Examination

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice ◽

10.46743/1540-580x/2015.1541 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Chalee Engelhard ◽

Christine McCallum

Keyword(s):

Physical Therapy ◽

Clinical Education ◽

Driving Forces ◽

Physical Therapist ◽

The United States ◽

Pass Rate ◽

Cycle Period ◽

Full Time ◽

Pass Rates ◽

First Time

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to develop descriptions and identify commonalities of current clinical education models used in physical therapy programs; then, using this information, to examine differences in first-time and ultimate pass rates among the derived formula from Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) accredited programs in 2011-2013. Methods. This mixed methods study captured qualitative and quantitative data from the 204 PT programs located in the United States and Puerto Rico from 2011 to 2013. The data were coded into 11 different clinical education models which represented all programs. The models were then linked to first time and ultimate pass rates. Results. Twenty out of 204 (9.8%) PT programs reported first-time pass rates and 201/204 (98.5%) reported ultimate pass rates in the cited three-year cycle period stated in this study. The three most commonly occurring models make up 84% of all current existing models. All three frequently occurring models include both full time and clinical internship clinical experiences. Additionally, these models outperformed the national pass rate average by at least 3%. Conclusions. Our results are the first to provide an analysis of the various models in use in physical therapist education, as well as a preliminary outlook on how clinical education design is matched against a program’s pass rate on the national exam. Since pass rate is one of the few standardized, modifiable outcomes for CAPTE approved programs, it was selected as the outcome to allow comparison of clinical education models. One of the driving forces behind this study was to illustrate clearly the tremendous variety of clinical education models and a better understanding of the scope of the variances that is occurring.

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