McKeough DM1, Moore B1, Mattern-Baxter K1, Barakatt E1, Coleman-Salgaado B1
1California State University Sacramento, Physical Therapy, Sacramento, United States
Background: An integrated clinical experience (ICE) can be used in academic curricula to introduce students to patients and the roles and responsibilities of patient care prior to their first clinical rotation, which can promote professional socialization and enhance retention of learned content. Although several models of incorporating an ICE into physical therapy curricula have been described few use an ICE where patient care is embedded into core clinical management courses. Further, there is little evidence to demonstrate how an ICE within the curriculum may influence students' patient care management skills.
Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine if an ICE produced a significant change in students' perception of their patient care management skills.
Methods: Two cohorts (n=64) of physical therapy students participated in the study. The ICE consisted of two, eight-week clinical experiences as part of the laboratory component of a two-semester course on adult neurorehabilitation taught during the second year of a three-year doctor of physical therapy (DPT) curriculum. Volunteer participants from the community with movement dysfunction due to neurologic damage received a 60-minute treatment session, once a week for eight weeks from students working in pairs under the supervision of licensed faculty.
To measure the effects of the ICE on students' perception of competency in patient care management skills, nine items were selected from the Physical Therapy Clinical Performance Instrument (CPI) communication, clinical reasoning, examination, evaluation, diagnosis and prognosis, plan of care, procedural interventions, documentation, and outcome measures. Self-reported modified CPIs were administered immediately prior to and following students' participation in ICE-1 and ICE-2. A four-point change on each item of the modified CPI was used to determine a meaningful improvement in patient care management skills.
A 2-way ANOVA was performed on each criterion with the criterion score as the dependent variable and time of measure (repeated factor) and cohort (independent factor) as the independent variables. Level of significance was α = .01.
Results: Both cohorts had a significant improvement in self-perceived performance in all CPI criteria average scores following ICE-1.
Both cohorts demonstrated significant improvement in examination, evaluations, diagnosis and prognosis, plan of care, documentation, and outcomes assessment following ICE-2.
Only Cohort 2 (n=32) achieved a significant improvement in clinical reasoning following ICE-2.
Conclusion(s): This is the first attempt to use components of the CPI as a method to quantify students' perception of change in patient care management skills following an ICE in a DPT program. The findings show that the ICE used in this study improved student's perception of their patient management skills. A second ICE in the same course improved patient management skills further.
Implications: Student's patient management skills may be improve by integrating an ICE into the DPT curriculum and further improved with a second ICE.
Keywords: Physical therapist education, integrated clinical experience, clinical performance instrument
Funding acknowledgements: This work was unfunded.
Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine if an ICE produced a significant change in students' perception of their patient care management skills.
Methods: Two cohorts (n=64) of physical therapy students participated in the study. The ICE consisted of two, eight-week clinical experiences as part of the laboratory component of a two-semester course on adult neurorehabilitation taught during the second year of a three-year doctor of physical therapy (DPT) curriculum. Volunteer participants from the community with movement dysfunction due to neurologic damage received a 60-minute treatment session, once a week for eight weeks from students working in pairs under the supervision of licensed faculty.
To measure the effects of the ICE on students' perception of competency in patient care management skills, nine items were selected from the Physical Therapy Clinical Performance Instrument (CPI) communication, clinical reasoning, examination, evaluation, diagnosis and prognosis, plan of care, procedural interventions, documentation, and outcome measures. Self-reported modified CPIs were administered immediately prior to and following students' participation in ICE-1 and ICE-2. A four-point change on each item of the modified CPI was used to determine a meaningful improvement in patient care management skills.
A 2-way ANOVA was performed on each criterion with the criterion score as the dependent variable and time of measure (repeated factor) and cohort (independent factor) as the independent variables. Level of significance was α = .01.
Results: Both cohorts had a significant improvement in self-perceived performance in all CPI criteria average scores following ICE-1.
Both cohorts demonstrated significant improvement in examination, evaluations, diagnosis and prognosis, plan of care, documentation, and outcomes assessment following ICE-2.
Only Cohort 2 (n=32) achieved a significant improvement in clinical reasoning following ICE-2.
Conclusion(s): This is the first attempt to use components of the CPI as a method to quantify students' perception of change in patient care management skills following an ICE in a DPT program. The findings show that the ICE used in this study improved student's perception of their patient management skills. A second ICE in the same course improved patient management skills further.
Implications: Student's patient management skills may be improve by integrating an ICE into the DPT curriculum and further improved with a second ICE.
Keywords: Physical therapist education, integrated clinical experience, clinical performance instrument
Funding acknowledgements: This work was unfunded.
Topic: Education: methods of teaching & learning
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: California State University Sacramento
Ethics committee: Institutional Review Board
Ethics number: IRB-16-17-297
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
