Out-Patient Pulmonary Rehabilitation Improves Medial-Lateral Balance in Subjects With Chronic Respiratory Disease: Proof-of-Concept Study.

Background: Recent studies show balance impairment in subjects with chronic respiratory disease. The aim of this proof-of-concept study was to investigate clinical and quantitative measures of balance in people with chronic respiratory disease following participation in an out-patient pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) program to better understand features of balance improvement. A secondary aim was to probe possible mechanisms for balance improvement to provide the foundation for optimal design of future studies.

A mixed methods study of student perceptions of using standardized patients for learning and evaluation.

Background: Educators recognize the value of using standardized patients (SPs) when teaching and evaluating clinical skills in rehabilitation entry-to-practice education programs but have published little supporting evidence and have yet to evaluate programmatic SP use from a student perspective. This study explored occupational and physical therapy students' perceptions of SP use in their professional education.

Methods: Recruiting current and graduated students, we conducted a two-phase mixed-methods sequential-explanatory study integrating data from a quantitative survey (phase 1) and qualitative focus groups with representative students (phase 2).