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.
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.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDue 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.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF