Abstract

Research Article

Physiotherapy Undergraduate Students’ Perception About Clinical Education; A Qualitative Study

Pravakar Timalsina* and Bimika Khadgi

Published: 22 November, 2024 | Volume 8 - Issue 2 | Pages: 043-052

Background: Clinical education is an important component of physiotherapy education programs. It provides insights to the students in the fields of physiotherapy practice, develops leadership, and enhances their clinical skills in patient assessment, examination, diagnosis, treatment, planning, and intervention selection. The dimension of physiotherapy education is in the developing phase in Nepal. For further growth, the experience and the perception of the students are very important. Through this, the facilitators and barriers in physiotherapy clinical education need to be recognized. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the facilitators and barriers in physiotherapy clinical education in Nepal from a student’s perspective.
Objectives: The main objective of this study was to identify the perception of physiotherapy undergraduate students about their clinical education and to find out the facilitators and barriers in clinical education.
Methods: A qualitative research using focused group discussion was conducted. Ethical considerations were taken from respective departments and IRC approval was taken. BPT 3rd year, 4th year, and intern students of KUSMS were called to participate in the study. After the consent from the participants, focus groups of 6 participants (2 participants from each 3rd year, 4th year, and intern) were formed. In five FGDs, data saturation was observed and no further FGDs were conducted. FGDs were collected with audio tape recordings. The data were transcribed verbatim and translated into the English language. Then data coding was done and themes and sub-themes were generated from the codes.
Results: Through the transcribed and translated data, seven themes were generated which were clinical education, student expectation, student attitude and behavior, roles and responsibilities of clinical educators, exposure, resources, and miscellaneous. These headings explained the perception of facilitators and barriers.
Conclusion: The facilitators and barriers to physiotherapy clinical education were identified through student’s perspectives. These findings should be considered while preparing the guiding document for clinical education to enhance the quality of education.

Read Full Article HTML DOI: 10.29328/journal.jnpr.1001063 Cite this Article Read Full Article PDF

Keywords:

Physiotherapy; Clinical education; Facilitators; Barriers

References

  1. Dean CM, Stark AM, Gates CA, Czerniec SA, Hobbs C, Bullock LL, et al. A profile of physiotherapy clinical education. Aust Health Rev. 2009;33(1):38-46. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1071/ah090038
  2. Menatnia F, Noorizadeh Dehkordi S, Dadgoo M. Recognition of Barriers in Physiotherapy Clinical Education From Students’ Perspectives: A Content Analysis. Iran Rehabil J. 2019;17(1):67-74. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.32598/irj.17.1.67
  3. Alexanders J, Chesterton P, Gordon A, Alexander J, Reynolds C. Physiotherapy Student's Perceptions of the Ideal Clinical Educator. MedEdPublish. 2020;9(254):254. Available from: https://mededpublish.org/articles/9-254
  4. World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT). Clinical education component of physical therapist professional entry level education. June 2011. Available from: https://world.physio/sites/default/files/2020-07/G-2011-Standards-practice.pdf
  5. Nepal Health Professional Council (NHPC). Minimum Requirements for the recognition of Bachelor in Physiotherapy. 2019;16. Available from: https://nhpc.gov.np/beta/uploads/requirements_pdf/BPT_Minimum_Requirement.pdf
  6. McMahon S, Cusack T, O’Donoghue G. Barriers and facilitators to providing undergraduate physiotherapy clinical education in the primary care setting: a three-round Delphi study. Physiotherapy. 2014;100(1):14-9. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physio.2013.04.006
  7. Ramakrishnan S, Bairapareddy KC. Factors affecting physiotherapy clinical education in the United Arab Emirates: Perceptions of students and clinical educator. 2020. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-17562/v2
  8. Douglas AH, Acharya SP, Allery LA. Communication skills teaching and learning in Nepal; what are medical students’ perceptions and experiences? A qualitative study. BMC Med Educ. 2020;20(1):391. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-020-02330-y
  9. Nair SP, Panhale VP, Nair N. Perceived barriers to evidence-based practice among Physiotherapy students. J Educ Health Promot. 2021;10(1):17. Available from: https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_410_20
  10. Acharya R, Adhikari S, Oraibi S, Baidya S. Challenges and future development of physiotherapy education in Nepal. Int J Curr Res Rev. 2015;7(13):35-42. Available from: https://ijcrr.com/abstract.php?article_id=498
  11. Kc S, Subramaniam PR, Paudel S. Barriers and facilitators of utilizing research among nurses in Nepal. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2016;47(4):171-9. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3928/00220124-20160322-07
  12. Naidoo M, Chetty V, Mnguni N, Maddocks S, Pefile N, Mthethwa F, et al. Physiotherapy clinical education at a South African university. Afr J Health Prof Educ. 2018;10(1):13-8. Available from: https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.7196/AJHPE.2018.v10i1.987
  13. Sciences KUSoM. Curriculum for Bachelor in Physiotherapy. 2012:94.
  14. Tazakori Z, Mehri S, Mobaraki N, Dadashi L, Ahmadi Y, Shokri F, et al. Factors Affecting on Quality of Clinical Education from Perspectives of Operating Room Students. J Health Care. 2015;17(2):128-36.
  15. Entwistle N, McCune V, Hounsell J. Approaches to studying and perceptions of university teaching-learning environments: Concepts, measures and preliminary findings. Occasional report. 2002;1:1-19. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.33594.80329
  16. Prosser M, Trigwell K. Understanding learning and teaching: The experience in higher education. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Education (UK); 1999. Available from: https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Understanding_Learning_And_Teaching.html?id=2UHlAAAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y
  17. Delany C, Bragge P. A study of physiotherapy students’ and clinical educators’ perceptions of learning and teaching. Med Teach. 2009;31(9):e402-e11. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/01421590902832970
  18. Shankar RP, Dubey AK, Mishra P, Deshpande VY, Chandrasekhar T, Shivananda P. Student attitudes towards communication skills training in a medical college in Western Nepal. Educ Health (Abingdon). 2006;19(1):71-84.
  19. Hobbs C, Henley E, Higgs J, Williams V. Clinical education program strategies for challenging times. Focus Health Prof Educ. 2000;2(2):1-17.
  20. Harbour R, Miller J. A new system for grading recommendations in evidence based guidelines. BMJ. 2001;323(7308):334-6. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.323.7308.33420
  21. Guyatt G, Cook D, Haynes B. Evidence based medicine has come a long way. BMJ. 2004;329(7473):990-1. doi: 10.1136/bmj.329.7473.990. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.329.7473.990
  22. Lekkas P, Larsen T, Kumar S, Grimmer K, Nyland L, Chipchase L, et al. No model of clinical education for physiotherapy students is superior to another: a systematic review. Aust J Physiother. 2007;53(1):19-28. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0004-9514(07)70058-2
  23. Nyumba TO, Wilson K, Derrick CJ, Mukherjee N. The use of focus group discussion methodology: Insights from two decades of application in conservation. Methods Ecol Evol. 2018;9(1):20-32. Available from: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/2041-210X.12860
  24. Powell RA, Single HM. Focus groups. Int J Qual Health Care. 1996;8(5):499-504. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/8.5.499
  25. Krueger RA, Casey MA. Focus groups: A practical guide for applied research. 5th ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications; 2014. Available from: https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Focus_Groups.html?id=tXpZDwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y
  26. Kitzinger J. The methodology of focus groups: the importance of interaction between research participants. Sociol Health Illn. 1994;16(1):103-21. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.ep11347023
  27. Stewart DW, Shamdasani PN. Focus groups: Theory and practice. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications; 2014. Available from: https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Focus_Groups.html?id=YU0XBAAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y
  28. Oyeyemi A. Perspectives on Clinical Education: How physiotherapy students learn in the clinic. Afr J Physiother Rehabil Sci. 2013;5(1-2):1-7. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ajprs.v5i1.1
  29. Chesterton P, Chesterton J, Alexanders J. New graduate physiotherapists’ perceived preparedness for clinical practice: A cross-sectional survey. Eur J Physiother. 2023;25(1):33-42. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/21679169.2021.1958007
  30. Gallasch D, Conlon-Leard A, Hardy M, Phillips A, Van Kessel G, Stiller K. Variable levels of stress and anxiety reported by physiotherapy students during clinical placements: A cohort study. Physiotherapy. 2022;114:38-46. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physio.2021.12.002
  31. Nodehi Moghadam A, Abdi K, Kashfi Ardehjan P. Exploring the challenges of physiotherapy clinical education: A qualitative study. Iran Rehabil J. 2017;15(3):207-14. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.29252/nrip.irj.15.3.207
  32. Temesgen MH, Girma Y, Dugo T, Azeze G, Dejen M, Deres M, Janakiraman B. Factors influencing student’s satisfaction in the physiotherapy education program. Adv Med Educ Pract. 2021:133-40. Available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.2147/AMEP.S289134

Figures:

Similar Articles

Recently Viewed

Read More

Most Viewed

Read More

Help ?