ACCESSIBLE PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION IN PAEDIATRIC PHYSIOTHERAPY

J. Simmonds^1,2, A. Coomer^1,3, N. Winfield^1,4

¹University College London, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom, ²Central Health Physiotherapy, London, United Kingdom, ³St Mary's Hospital, Imperial NHS Healthcare Trust, London, United Kingdom, ⁴Milton Keynes NHS Hospital, Physiotherapy, London, United Kingdom

Background: The first two decades of life are characterized by rapid growth and significant changes in the physical, social and psychological development and as such require physiotherapists to have specialised education to ensure optimal treatment. Paediatric content is limited in pre-registration physiotherapy education programmes worldwide and therefore physiotherapists rely on continuing professional development courses to upskill and prepare for working with young people. However, there is a lack of accessible and affordable courses. Furthermore, University College London (UCL) is one of few institutions in the world to offer advanced level MSc Paediatric Physiotherapy programmes and many applicants have insufficient foundation level knowledge in paediatric physiotherapy to enable them to be successful on the course.

Purpose: To meet these professional development needs, a team of physiotherapy educators at UCL obtained an education innovation grant with the aim of developing an accessible, evidence-based foundation course in paediatric physiotherapy for graduate physiotherapists. A further aim was to facilitate an access route to master’s level specialist education.

Methods: Using the UCLeXtend virtual learning platform the education team have created an innovative self-paced, interactive online evidence-based course comprising of four modules delivered online using interactive learning tools H5P and Articulate Storyline. Learners can sign up to the whole course or individual modules. Live stream case based interactive webinars are delivered on a regular basis for students on the course to further assist in the application to practice. The course was launched in in January 2020 with a rolling intake. Students have access to modules for 16 weeks and are assessed by a multiple-choice test. Additionally, learners submit reflective statements about how the course has impacted their practice and complete the course evaluation before obtaining certificates.
An evaluation of the course outcomes between January 2020 and September 2022 has been undertaken. This has included student demographics, course completion rates, impact on professional practice and satisfaction with the course which have been collected since inception and has been analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.

Results: 247 physiotherapists have enrolled on the course from 32 countries in five continents, Europe, North America, Australia, Asia and Africa. 211 students have completed modules with 36 ongoing. Two students withdrew without completing. 242 (96%) of students rated the modules as good to excellent. The interactive nature of the online resources promotes active learning and have been particularly well received. Key themes in the reflective statements included, use of the international classification of functioning to guide assessment and treatment, importance of communication, use of valid and reliable outcome measures.

Conclusions: This innovative evidence based online self-paced course and shown to be accessible to a world-wide cohort of physiotherapists. The interactive software has facilitated active learning and engagement. Reflective proformas have identified key areas of evidence based professional development.

Implications: This paediatric physiotherapy course has enabled physiotherapists from across the world to access evidence-based learning which can be applied in 3 core areas of paediatric physiotherapy practice, neurodevelopmental, musculoskeletal and cardiorespiratory.

Funding acknowledgements: UCL innovation fund

Keywords:
Paediatric
Physiotherapy
Online education

Topics:
Education: continuing professional development
Paediatrics
Education: methods of teaching & learning

Did this work require ethics approval? No

Reason: NA This is an education service evaluation project which did not require ethical approval for evaluation