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

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

scholarly journals Integrated Clinical Experiences in a Campus Onsite Clinic: A Self-Contained Model of Physical Therapy Clinical Education

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Physical Therapy ◽  
Physical Therapist ◽  
Clinical Performance ◽  
Clinical Skills ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Academic Program ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Clinical Experiences ◽  
Wellness Program ◽  
Academic Knowledge

Purpose: This paper describes a self-contained model of integrated clinical experiences (ICEs) that take place during the academic portion of an entry-level physical therapist education program in a campus onsite clinic. Description of Model: Students participate in ICEs for three consecutive semesters. Students provide pro bono physical therapy services to individuals with impairments, functional limitations, or changes in physical function resulting from a variety of health conditions. In addition, students participate in an exercise/wellness program for individuals who wish to improve or maintain their current levels of fitness. The first ICE consists of second-year students observing/assisting third-year students in the onsite clinic with basic patient care skills and participation in an exercise/wellness program. Students in the second and third ICEs provide ongoing one-on-one skilled therapy for individuals with neurological or musculoskeletal diagnoses. Results: Feedback obtained from onsite clinical instructors, core academic faculty, students, and patients receiving care in the onsite clinic through group debriefings, questionnaires, and interviews is used to assess students’ readiness for full-time internships and effectiveness of the ICEs. The feedback reveals that the ICEs are meeting their intended goals. Category ratings in the “red flag” areas of the Clinical Performance Instrument (CPI) are consistently above expected levels for students completing their first full-time clinical internship. In addition, patients receiving care in the onsite clinic report a high level of satisfaction with the care provided. Conclusion/Possible Recommendations: This model provides students with an opportunity to gain clinical confidence in a realistic setting while reinforcing concepts presented in academic coursework. Providing ICEs on campus decreases reliance on clinical facilities and allows for academic program oversight of the quality of the learning experiences and early identification of students who have deficits in clinical skills and/or academic knowledge. The learning experiences provided in the onsite clinic give students a transitional experience that helps them benefit more fully from full-time internships. A potential challenge to this model is finding the space and financial resources needed to make it viable.

scholarly journals Student mental health and clinical education: exploring the DCE experience

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.

scholarly journals Students’ Retention of Biophysical Agents Curriculum from First to Third Year of Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Greco ◽  
Eric Lamberg
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Clinical Education ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Physical Therapist ◽  
Knowledge Retention ◽  
Significant Loss ◽  
T Test ◽  
Future Research ◽  
First Year ◽  
Significant Difference

Purpose: Biophysical agents (BPA) are widely used in physical therapy clinical practice and is a content area included in entry level physical therapist education programs. Retention of this content is critical for clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to measure to what extent 3rd year physical therapist students (PTS) were able to recall knowledge of BPA content after a 2 -year gap by repeating an examination that was given during the first year. Specifically, 1) Is there a significant difference in retention of BPA content/material between the 1st and 3rd year of curriculum, and 2) Does exposure/use of BPA during a clinical education experience (CEE) affect retention of material? Methods: A sample of convenience of 22 current 3rd year PTS who completed a BPA course during their 1st year participated. The comprehensive written examination for the BPA course served as the test instrument to determine knowledge retention. The PTS re-took this exam in their 3rd year of study, after completing their 2nd CEE. The PTS also completed a questionnaire soliciting information about demographics and degree of exposure to BPA during their CEE. A paired t-test was used to compare 1st year and 3rd year total test scores. The PTS were divided based on BPA exposure during their CEE, and test scores were compared using an independent samples t-test. Results: There was a significant decrease in test score from 1st to 3rd year (first year was 89.5% (range: 97.0% - 80.0%) while the 3rd year was 52.1% (range: 39.0% – 67.0%). There was no significant difference (p=0.561) in mean test scores on the 3rd year test for PTS with BPA exposure during CEEs (52.6%) vs those that did not (50.4%). Conclusions: Like other health professions, there was a decrement in knowledge retention. Results indicate a significant loss of retention of BPA knowledge when provided a 2-year gap, which was unaffected by exposure to BPA during CEEs. Exploring methods to improve knowledge retention in BPA curriculum may be needed. Future research should investigate retention with other methods of instruction including those that incorporate more active learning methods.

scholarly journals The influence of pre-professional curricula on components of the Physical Therapist Clinical Performance Instrument

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly Goldwasser ◽  
Kyle Covington
Keyword(s):  
Physical Therapy ◽  
Physical Therapist ◽  
Clinical Performance ◽  
Professional Behavior ◽  
Quantitative Review ◽  
Arts And Sciences ◽  
Doctor Of Physical Therapy ◽  
Carnegie Classifications ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Clinical Performance Instrument

Background and Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate any association between pre-enrollment curricula and clinical performance in physical therapy professional schools. Specifically, does the type of undergraduate institution (as defined by Carnegie classification type) influence performance on components of the Physical Therapist Clinical Performance Instrument? Methods: The study methods include a retrospective quantitative review of student educational records from the Duke Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) classes of 2013 to present. Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to determine significance of the dependent variables. Results: Results indicated that when the Carnegie Classifications were consolidated to five categories, there was only a significant difference in score for one of the 108 possible scales in the CPI (Professional Behavior, Final 3). Students who attended an undergraduate institution with a professional focus (category 5) scored significantly (p=.033) higher on this Professional Behavior scale than did students who attended an undergraduate institution with an arts and sciences focus (category 1). When the Carnegie Classifications were consolidated to four categories, two scales showed significant results (Professional Behavior, Final 3; Accountability, Final 3). Conclusions: The study fails to confirm the hypothesis that the type of undergraduate institution influences performance on components of the Physical Therapist Clinical Performance Instrument. There is virtually no difference on clinical performance based on undergraduate institution type.

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

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.

scholarly journals Students' Perceptions of Clinical Education during a Global Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Pologruto ◽  
Jennifer Jewell ◽  
Laura Cruz
Keyword(s):  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Clinical Education ◽  
Physical Therapist ◽  
Clinical Experiences ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Physical Therapist Assistant ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Physical Therapy Programs ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Academic Year

Abstract Introduction Clinical education is an essential component of allied health programs. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic had significant impacts on clinical education. The central purpose of this research was to recognize student perceptions of the impact of COVID-19 on their face-to-face clinical experiences during the global pandemic. Methods A Qualtrics survey was sent to 80 physical therapist assistant students whose clinical education was affected during the 2019 to 2020 academic year. Subjects were asked about the following: factors that influenced their decision to complete clinical rotations during the pandemic; perceptions of learning, safety, and stress under these conditions as well as perceptions of the effectiveness of clinical preparatory activities. Results Twenty-six responses to the survey were received and analyzed using descriptive statistics and nonpaired t-tests calculated for each scaled survey item to compare groups. A majority (83.3%) of the respondents reported graduation followed by professional experience (58.3%) as extremely important factors of consideration for participation in clinical education. Personal safety (33.3%) ranked the lowest of the extremely important factors. In preparing for the clinical experience, 75% reported that individual or small group meetings with the faculty member were extremely helpful. The majority of students (78.26%) strongly agreed that they learned a great deal from the clinical experiences under global pandemic; however, 52.17% reported they found the clinical experiences to be stressful. Conclusion During the global pandemic, students placed greater value on interpersonal, trusted relationships when seeking information. Even though students felt stressed during their clinical education, they perceived that learning did occur. As the impacts of COVID-19 remain, physical therapy programs can use this data to recognize areas that require increased support and preparation for students' clinical experiences to encourage an impactful and sustainable future in clinical education.

scholarly journals 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

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.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document