Clinical Instructors Perceptions Of Dpt Student Behaviors During Clinical Education Experiences

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: A minimum of 30 weeks of full time clinical education experiences are required in Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) programs. Clinical education is of high value in shaping a student to become a competent entry level physical therapist. Both clinical instructor (CI) and students play a valuable role determining the outcome of the clinical experience. Prior research has explored CI behaviors that contribute to clinical education experiences. However, recent studies of the DPT student behavior that contribute to clinical education experiences are limited. The purpose of this study was to identify clinical instructors’ perceptions of the DPT students’ behaviors that impact clinical education experiences. PARTICIPANTS: 22 CIs in West Michigan. Inclusion criteria: a licensed PT in the United States, having served as a CI for at least 2 students, having served as a CI for at least one DPT student in the past 3 years. METHODS: This study used a qualitative framework with focus groups and a one-on-one interview. Standard questions were asked to facilitate discussion among the participants, with prompts and follow-up questions for clarification. Each focus group interview was digitally-recorded and transcribed verbatim. RESULTS: Data were analyzed using the constant-comparative method. Seven themes were found: Commitment to learning, communication/interpersonal skills, professionalism/responsibility, critical thinking/problem solving, constructive feedback, effective use of time and resources, and stress management. Each of these themes had both positive and negative behaviors. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Data revealed that Cis perceive that a range of positive and negative DPT student behaviors impact a clinical education experience. Three predominate themes emerged: Commitment to learning, communication/interpersonal skills, and professionalism/responsibility. These themes are consistent with findings of previous studies of student behaviors. These findings may assist academic and clinical educators to prepared DPT students for clinical education experiences.

The purpose of this comparative study was to investigate the reports of clinical instructors (CIs) and DPT students from two different physical therapy programs in New England regarding their opinions on the teaching and evaluative techniques of professionalism during a clinical education rotation. One program emphasized professionalism prior to the students beginning their clinical rotations, while the other program did not have this emphasis. Three items from the professional practice section of the Clinical Performance Instrument (CPI) (accountability, communication, and professional behavior), were utilized to create the conceptual framework around which the interview questions were constructed. This qualitative research design allowed the primary investigator to speak one-on-one with CIs and DPT students in a clinical environment. Ten CIs and ten DPT students participated in the study. There were five pairs of participants from program #1 (not emphasizing professionalism), and five pairs from program #2 (emphasizing professionalism). Overall, it was determined from the findings that role modeling is the preferred form of instruction for affective behaviors like accountability and professional behaviors. However, immediate constructive feedback is a better form of instruction for communication; and close proximity observation, in conjunction with reviewing the sample behaviors from the CPI, serve as the preferred evaluative technique for the accountability, communication, and professional behavior. Recommendations include the provision of increased feedback to students in regard to clinical communication, and for academic programs to improve upon the instruction of clinical accountability prior to the beginning of clinical rotations. Additionally, all information and recommendations need to be shared with an academic program’s clinical partners for the purpose of clear and consistent clinical education experiences for students.

INTRODUCTION: Physical Therapist (PT) education has evolved from a Rehabilitation Aide in the early 1900’s to the current Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree. In 1984 Emery published a foundational study which identified Bachelor’s degree PT students’ opinions regarding the importance of frequency of occurrence of clinical instructor (CI) behaviors. No studies of DPT students’ perceptions of clinical instructor behaviors were found in the literature. The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions of DPT students in Michigan regarding the importance of frequency of CI behaviors and to compare these findings to those of Emery. METHODS: This pilot study was a cross sectional survey modeled from Emery’s 1984 study. An updated version of Emery’s survey items taken from the Clinical Instructor Education and Credentialing Program (CIECP) manual was used with permission. This web-based survey consisted of 43 CI behaviors in the categories of communication, interpersonal relations, professional skills, and teaching, which were ranked for importance and frequency using a 4 point scale, with lower scores indicating greater importance and frequency. Means were calculated for importance and frequency of each behavior, and the means were ranked. To rank the 4 behaviors categories, weighted averages were determined for this study and Emery’s. To determine the relationship between frequency and importance of each behavior, correlational analysis using both Pearson and Spearman was conducted for each of the 43 behaviors (p

Written in adherence with the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education’s (CAPTE) standards, Clinical Education in Physical Therapy explores the evolution from student to Clinical Instructor while serving as an essential educational resource for entry-level Physical Therapy students. This exciting new resource presents an overview on the rewards and challenges of becoming a Clinical Instructor, the legal issues involved for the academic institution and the clinical sites, clinical education models, student characteristics, establishing a clinical education program, and much more! Clinical Education in Physical Therapy includes a dedicated chapter on leadership and professionalism both of which have been stressed in recent years by both the APTA and CAPTE. Key Points at the beginning of each chapter establish the primary take-aways for readers, while case studies in select chapters reinforce practical application of the material.

Whether you are practicing in an in-patient or an out-patient facility, academic institution, or clinical residency program, this well-respected handbook gives you the background and guidance you need to effectively educate individuals across the continuum of physical therapy practice. Practical, real-life examples show you how to: incorporate health literacy and needs of the learner; assess and adapt to the various learning styles of patients; use simulations in education; facilitate the development of clinical reasoning skills; and assess learning outcomes and the effectiveness of your teaching. Plus, four all-new chapters and major revisions of all content throughout the book keep you on top of the latest research and best practices. Coverage of the theory and application of educational principles across the continuum of PT practice provides the information you need to improve your skills in the educational process both in academic and clinical settings. Two section format divides content into two parts: designing academic and clinical education programs and teaching students in academic and clinical settings; and teaching patients and families in clinical and community settings. Variety of teaching and teaching assessment methods expands your teaching, learning, and assessment repertoires. Case stories at the beginning of each chapter allow you to see the relevance of the information in the chapter. Threshold concepts highlight key ideas that are important to know. Annotated bibliography at end of each chapter provides resources for further study. NEW! Chapter on Authentic Assessment: Simulation-Based Education reflects the new ways to facilitate student learning through the use of human simulation models. NEW! Chapter on Strategies for Planning and Implementing Interprofessional Education covers the fundamental concepts of team-based care and interprofessional learning. NEW! Chapter on What Makes a Good Clinical Teacher? translates current research on clinical teaching into clinical education and practice. NEW! Chapter on Facilitating the Teaching and Learning of Clinical Reasoning helps you apply current research on clinical reasoning in rehabilitation to clinical education and teaching. NEW! Two combined chapters on Patient Education and Health Literacy (previously chapters 8 and 12) and Applied Behavioral Theory and Adherence: Models for Practice (previously chapters 9 and 10) provide focused presentations on current thinking and practical strategies for addressing health literacy issues in the clinical environment. NEW! Expanded chapter on Post-Professional Clinical Residency and Fellowship Education offers more information on models and trends in residency education and mentoring.

The study's purpose was to uncover how Clinical Instructor (CI) best practices can be learned and maintained over time through use of an online learning environment. The study's three research questions centered on CIs' perceptions of the effectiveness of an online learning module, DPT students' perceptions of CI mentoring skills in providing an enriched learning environment, and the level that CIs would be able to maintain module-taught best practices after a nine-week inactive period. The study's background begins with Vision 2020 where the American Physical Therapy Association foresaw the need to require a clinical doctorate as the entry-level degree for physical therapists (PT). As a result, the academic rigor of PT programs was elevated and length of clinical experiences was increased. This resulted in a strong reliance on the Internet as a way to send larger amounts of information to CIs on a timelier basis. These events led to the identification of a gap between CI needs and evidence-based, CI best practices. Studies found that there were few online education courses with a clinical education focus. Additional factors that contribute to the ever-widening gap include inconsistent CI knowledge of how to work with students' professional behavior issues, student supervision, and lack of evidence-based, CI best practices. The participants of this study consisted of two groups, DPT students and CIs who served as mentors for the students' third clinical rotation. CIs completed an online module prior to the start of a nine-week rotation. Immediately following the rotation, the CIs took a delayed post-test and participated in a focus group. DPT students completed a feedback form to assess the CIs' performance. Following a nine-week inactive period, the CIs completed a follow up worksheet that assessed their ability to maintain module-taught best practices. This mixed methods study utilized SPSS to analyze the quantitative data including the use of Wilcoxin Signed Ranks and Mann Whitney U tests. Grounded Theory was used to analyze the qualitative aspects of the study. Cronbach's alpha tested for internal consistency and found the reliability of the instruments to be at the acceptable to good level. The Kappa statistical analyses found the data to be at "substantial" to "almost perfect" levels. The findings indicated that by taking the online module CIs perceived an improvement in the quality of their mentoring skills in the clinic. According to the students, treatment group-CIs did not provide better mentoring during the clinical rotation compared to the control group-CIs. However, the students that had the treatment group-CIs did report the use of module-taught best practices. Lastly, treatment group-CIs did maintain best practices with use of the module-taught best practices as a key resource after a nine-week inactive period. In summary, study results indicated that the participating CIs were able to maintain best practices using immediacy in education, distributed clinical practice, and reflection. Due to the sample size, generalization of the study results to the CI population is not supported. More research in this area is needed to help close this gap in clinical education.

Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) involves children in school consciously assisting others to learn, and in so doing learning more effectively themselves. It encompasses peer tutoring, peer modeling, peer education, peer counseling, peer monitoring, and peer assessment, which are differentiated from other more general "co-operative learning" methods. PAL is not diluted or surrogate "teaching"; it complements and supplements (but never replaces) professional teaching--capitalizing on the unique qualities and richness of peer interaction and helping students become empowered democratically to take more responsibility for their own learning. In this book, PAL is presented as a set of dynamic, robust, effective, and flexible approaches to teaching and learning, which can be used in a range of different settings. The chapters provide descriptions of good practice blended with research findings on effectiveness. They describe procedures that can be applied to all areas of the school curriculum, and can be used with learners of all levels of ability, including gifted students, students with disabilities, and second-language learners. Among the distinguished contributors, many are from North America, while others are from Europe and Australia. The applicability of the methods they present is worldwide. Peer-Assisted Learning is designed to be accessible and useful to teachers and to those who employ, train, support, consult with, and evaluate them. Many chapters will be helpful to teachers aiming to replicate in their own school environments the cost-effective procedures described. A practical resources guide is included. This volume will also be of interest to faculty and researchers in the fields of education and psychology, to community educators who want to learn about the implications of Peer Assisted Learning beyond school contexts, and to employers and others involved in post-school training.