Effects of Student Physical Therapists on Clinical Instructor Productivity Across Settings in an Academic Medical Center.

BACKGROUND: Clinical education is an integral component of physical therapy education. Both benefits and barriers exist in clinical education, but 1 commonly stated barrier includes the perception that students have a negative impact on clinical instructor productivity. OBJECTIVE: The purposes of this study were to evaluate the productivity of physical therapist clinical instructors in an academic medical center before, during, and after clinical education experiences, determine if there are differences in productivity during clinical education experiences across settings, and compare clinical instructor productivity with that of therapists who did not have a student during the same time frames. DESIGN: A retrospective design examined productivity across 3 years in acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, outpatient orthopedics, and outpatient neurology. Mean daily productivity was computed, normalized to an 8-hour day, and averaged for each week of the year. Data were analyzed using a repeated-measures ANOVA. Post-hoc comparisons were made within each setting to compare therapists with a student to those without. The Bonferonni-correction was used to control for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: Clinical instructor productivity was significantly increased in outpatient orthopedics and inpatient rehabilitation, and approached significance in outpatient neurology, but was not significant in acute care. The presence of a student made clinical instructors more productive but had no effect on the productivity of other therapists in that setting during the same time frame. LIMITATIONS: We studied only 1 academic medical center and could not account for clinical instructor factors such as years of experience or student factors such as year in their program. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that having a student increases productivity of therapists in various settings. Future studies should examine the impact of clinical instructor experience and student characteristics and should expand to other settings.

Validation of an Instrument for Measuring Professional Behaviors Across Students Enrolled in Allied Health Professional Programs.

Students enrolled in professional education programs preparing for a career in a healthcare need to learn knowledge, skills, and a wide range of professional attributes. However, the nature of clinical and didactic curricula germane to allied health professional programs makes it difficult to find accurate and useful means of measuring knowledge of and the skills associated with professional behaviors. As allied health educators, it is critically important to identify a reliable and effective instrument that can assess professional attributes of students in terms of their knowledge and skill. In the current study, 180 of 189 students (response rate 95.2%) from five allied health pro¬grams completed the online Professionalism Assessment Tool (PAT) to assess their professional attributes. The PAT was analyzed by each domain for internal consistency and by each item for floor and ceiling effects. Each domain met the a priori Cronbach alpha (range 0.90-0.94) and item floor effects were acceptable (range 1.17%-18.75%). Fourteen items in three domains exceeded a priori ceiling effects. Based upon the results of the current study, the PAT, originally created and validated for pharmacy students, appears to address common weaknesses identified in other instruments measuring professional behaviors within other health professional students.

An acute interprofessional simulation experience for occupational and physical therapy students: Key findings from a survey study.

Due to the fast pace and high complexity of managing patients in intensive and acute care units (ICUs), healthcare students often feel challenged and unprepared to practice in this environment. Simulations and standardised patients provide "hands-on" learning experiences that are realistic and help students to gain competence and confidence. This study examined the impact of an intensive case simulation laboratory using a patient simulator and standardised patients on students' perceptions of their confidence and preparedness to work in acute care settings. Second-year Masters of Occupational Therapy (MOT; n = 127) and Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT; n = 105) students participated in a three-hour intensive care simulation laboratory comprised of four stations that were designed to simulate common ICU patient care scenarios. Data analysed were student pre- and post-simulation surveys and written comments, and clinical instructors' (CIs; n = 51) ratings on DPT students' preparedness and confidence within the first two weeks of their acute care internships obtained after the laboratory. There was a significant increase for DPT (p < 0.0001) and MOT (p < 0.10) students in median ratings of how prepared they felt to practice in acute care settings following the ICU simulation compared to before the laboratory. CIs rated the DPT students as either prepared or very prepared for and moderately confident or very confident in the acute care setting. The use of simulation training using standardised patients and patient simulators was beneficial in increasing student confidence and preparing OT and PT students to practice in the acute care setting. Health professional educators should consider using an interprofessional simulation experience to improve their students' confidence and preparedness to provide appropriate care in the acute setting.