R. Boucaut1,2, E. Wong1,2
1University of South Australia, Allied Health and Human Performance, Adelaide, Australia, 2University of South Australia, International Centre for Allied Health Evidence, Adelaide, Australia
Background: There is little published data about practical undergraduate physiotherapy training in the work health and safety (WHS) field. The University of South Australia’s (UniSA) Bachelor of Physiotherapy course ‘Work Health and Safety Practice’ provides students with introductory practical WHS experience. Students undertake small WHS projects for industry (80 hours effort per student), culminating in a report for hosts.
Purpose: The aim of this study was to review past placement reports completed by final-year undergraduate physiotherapy students to ascertain the nature of the student WHS activities. Results may inform future curricular development.
Methods: Project reports were retrospectively and systematically classified using a descriptive, document content analysis approach. Secondary data analysis was performed on industry placement reports over two periods (Period 1: January 1995 – December 2000; Period 2: January 2015 – December 2019). For both periods, demographic data were collected: student numbers, report numbers, placement locations and industry types. Period 2 was used as a subset for further analysis as reports reflected more recent practice with a larger sample size. For Period 2, definitions were created to classify the nature of placement activities (e.g. risk management, training package development). Independently, the investigators classified the reports across 190 data points to determine percentage of agreement. The investigators reflected on how the practical activities undertaken prepare students for work in this field using Occupational Health Physiotherapy Australia (OHPA) standards.
Results: Reports were reviewed from Period 1 (n=70) and Period 2 (n=239). Inter-rater classification agreement was 91.6%. For both periods, most projects were undertaken by a pair of students (88%, n=269) based in metropolitan Adelaide (91%, n=284). Various industries hosted students, including healthcare and social assistance (40%, n=117) and manufacturing (30%, n=89). Period 2 reports primarily included risk-management activities as required by WHS legislation (97%, n=229), and training package development (2%, n=4). Secondary activities included developing job dictionaries (34%, n=78) and training packages (12%, n=28). In 2019, nine office ergonomics projects and five return to work activities were conducted. All projects included a literature review, most topics related to manual handling and/or musculoskeletal domains (81%, n=193). Results demonstrate that students’ activities, at an entry level standard, align well with the criteria set as key competencies for WHS physiotherapists (e.g. knowledge of legislation, tailoring interventions, communication with stakeholders). A limitation is that 90 student reports were missing from Period 2.
Conclusion(s): Results provide descriptive material about WHS placement activities requested by placement hosts. Healthcare and social assistance, and manufacturing workplaces were the leading industries requesting WHS physiotherapy student evaluations.
Implications: UniSA, a university of enterprise, focuses on maintaining close links with industry. These projects demonstrate students are actively working with industry partners beyond healthcare.This study is a point of reference for practical undergraduate physiotherapy curriculum development.
Funding, acknowledgements: The work undertaken by EW was funded by a University of South Australia vacation scholarship 2019-20
Keywords: Environment and public health, education, physical therapists
Topic: Occupational health & ergonomics
Did this work require ethics approval? Yes
Institution: University of South Australia
Committee: Human Research Ethics Committee
Ethics number: Application ID: 201590
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
