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Yap Y-H1, Lee C-H1, Hsiao S-F2,3,4
1Kaohsiung Medical University, Department of Public Health, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 2Kaohsiung Medical University, Department of Physical Therapy, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 3Kaohsiung Medical University, Master for Long-Term Care in Ageing, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 4Kaohsinug Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Background: Shift in learning paradigm from 'knows-how' toward 'shows-how' in clinical performance is important for physical therapy education. Educators need to select suitable assessment tools, ranged from written to clinical skills examinations such as objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs), to identify the learning achievement for different levels of professional education.
Purpose: The learning paradigm shift in clinical performance was examined in a physical therapy curriculum with special reference to course modules related to neurological physical therapy.
Methods: A 4-year Bachelor of Science program of physical therapy in Taiwan was reviewed for three continuous batches (n=118). Demographic profile such as age, gender, admission pathways of the students were documented. The neurological coherence pre-clinical courses and clinical performance results in neurological placements were analysed using the adjusted multiple linear regression. The correlation coefficients (β) of those representative courses of each year were used to identify the learning paradigm shift between 'know-how' and 'show-how'.
Results: With demographic factors adjusted, multiple linear regression indicated that there was no significant correlation between pre-clinical course marks and clinical performance. However, correlation was noted between clinical marks of 1st and 2nd semesters (18 and 36 weeks of clinical placement, respectively; β=0.452, p 0.05). The post-clinical OSCE was significantly correlated only with clinical performance of the 2nd semester (β=0.328, p 0.05), but not with that of the 1st semester.
Conclusion(s): Pre-clinical and clinical education components of physical therapy curriculum may require different assessment models to examine the right focus of learning content. Length of clinical education is also critical to ensure the clinical compentency.
Implications: Clinical education with sufficient length is important to allow the shift in learning paradigm from 'knows-how' toward 'shows-how'.
Keywords: Clinical education, Competency-based assessment, Learning paradigm
Funding acknowledgements: None. All authors have no conflict of interest to report.
Purpose: The learning paradigm shift in clinical performance was examined in a physical therapy curriculum with special reference to course modules related to neurological physical therapy.
Methods: A 4-year Bachelor of Science program of physical therapy in Taiwan was reviewed for three continuous batches (n=118). Demographic profile such as age, gender, admission pathways of the students were documented. The neurological coherence pre-clinical courses and clinical performance results in neurological placements were analysed using the adjusted multiple linear regression. The correlation coefficients (β) of those representative courses of each year were used to identify the learning paradigm shift between 'know-how' and 'show-how'.
Results: With demographic factors adjusted, multiple linear regression indicated that there was no significant correlation between pre-clinical course marks and clinical performance. However, correlation was noted between clinical marks of 1st and 2nd semesters (18 and 36 weeks of clinical placement, respectively; β=0.452, p 0.05). The post-clinical OSCE was significantly correlated only with clinical performance of the 2nd semester (β=0.328, p 0.05), but not with that of the 1st semester.
Conclusion(s): Pre-clinical and clinical education components of physical therapy curriculum may require different assessment models to examine the right focus of learning content. Length of clinical education is also critical to ensure the clinical compentency.
Implications: Clinical education with sufficient length is important to allow the shift in learning paradigm from 'knows-how' toward 'shows-how'.
Keywords: Clinical education, Competency-based assessment, Learning paradigm
Funding acknowledgements: None. All authors have no conflict of interest to report.
Topic: Education: methods of teaching & learning
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital
Ethics committee: Institution Review Board II
Ethics number: KMUHIRB-EXEMPT(II)-20180027
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
