It is important to understand the role of clinical education in developing the skills of undergraduate physiotherapy students and. The purpose of this research was to explore the role of clinical education in the preparation of undergraduate physiotherapy students for professional practice. The objective was to explore the role of clinical education in preparing undergraduate physiotherapy students for professional practice in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
What is the role of clinical education in preparing undergraduate physiotherapy students for professional practice in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. According to Lekkas et al. 2007), clinical education is a central part of the undergraduate physiotherapy curriculum and plays a major role in the development of students' clinical skills and attitudes. However, the conceptualization of clinical education and how it is delivered varies widely from institution to institution in the UAE and other countries.
The aim of the study was to gain insight into the role of clinical education in preparing physiotherapy students for professional practice. To achieve this, it was necessary to examine stakeholder experiences in the context of clinical education. Since the main aim of the study was to examine the contribution of clinical education to the preparation of undergraduate physical therapy students for professional practice, the researcher was keen to understand the students' perceptions of their own experience in clinical education and the perspectives of their clinical extract educators.
Therefore, semi-structured interviews are the appropriate choice for the purpose of this study, which explored the contribution of clinical education to the preparation of undergraduate physiotherapy students for their future professional practice.
Results
However, students reported mixed feelings and they were not confident to practice independently in some areas due to a lack of opportunities. The qualitative data confirmed that clinical internships created numerous opportunities to develop interpersonal skills through multidisciplinary teamwork and helped students recognize the roles of other healthcare professionals. We have the students attend multidisciplinary team meetings so that they understand the role of each member in the multidisciplinary team.
We have them do several joint sessions with speech and language therapists and occupational therapists and encourage them to constantly liaise with the pre- and post-treatment nurse and case manager, especially after the first week when they are familiar with the roles of each member. of MDT. However, clinical educators noted some gaps in students' understanding of “evidence-based practice,” as students' ability to apply evidence in practice was limited, and students often needed guidance to relate evidence to the clinical scenario. They tend to use their clinical guidelines as scientific evidence at the end of the placement when they are making the presentation.
I think they consider it as two separate entities and they have a hard time connecting them together. They understand the importance of CPGs, but they have difficulty putting it into practice by linking the research and guidelines to what they should be doing. The results indicate that clinical educators encouraged students to independently manage non-complex patients, which helped students gain confidence in patient management.
The interview findings confirm that students were becoming open-minded during the clinical placement as clinical educators noticed changes in students' attitudes towards feedback and showing empathy to the patient. They realize they're not good at something, and that's for their own good, and they'll grow into better practitioners with feedback. Students reported mixed feelings, and some did not like receiving the comments in front of patients.
In some rotations I was getting the feedback before the patient and I didn't like that. She can show me the feedback even if it's bad because I'm there to learn. We did not get feedback after seeing each patient, only during the middle and last APP session do they give feedback.
Discussion
It was also clear from our findings that clinical education promoted attitudes towards reflective practice. These results are like those reported in the literature that recommended the use of reflective practice to easily navigate through uncertainties, complexities and possible unique scenarios (McLeod, Barr & Welch 2015; Ziebart & MacDermid 2019). Based on the results of this study, clinical placements were useful in developing open-mindedness among students, particularly in relation to receiving feedback.
Physiotherapy students were able to reflect on their feelings, experience and various incidents in clinical placements based on feedback from their clinical tutors. The importance of constructive feedback in dealing with underperformance was reported in several literature sources (Adamson et al. 2018; Johnson et al. 2019; Warman, Bell & Rhind 2014) and the results of this study are consistent with the results reported in previous studies . Clinical education through internships allows students to develop the knowledge, skills, behaviors and values required for safe and effective practice.
The less controlled environment within the healthcare institutions presented students with numerous challenges and helped students get used to future professional practice. Students appreciated the hands-on experiences in clinical internships and clinical teachers also emphasized the importance of exposure to real-world experience for students to develop their problem-solving skills and deal with uncertainties in everyday practice (Carraccio et al.
Conclusion
Clinical education is an integral and distinct part of undergraduate physiotherapy education and during clinical placements students have an opportunity to refine their knowledge and skills learned from classroom and practical laboratories. It was clear from the findings that clinical education contributed to the development of competence and skills required for professional practice through real-world experience. It can be concluded that clinical education played a decisive role in preparing the students for professional practice.
Implications for Research, Practice and/or Society
The findings of this study are expected to contribute to the literature in health care educational research and are believed to support clinical teachers in designing their educational strategies for clinical education. In addition to the aforementioned contribution to the literature, this study also provides a contribution to fellow researchers interested in health educational research from the perspective of its theoretical framework and the methodology used. These will be useful for educators, curriculum developers and policy makers in physiotherapy education, particularly in developing strategies for delivering effective clinical education as one third of physiotherapy education is shaped by clinical settings.
Clinical educators should consider the reported gaps in clinical education eg feedback inconsistency and design appropriate educational strategies to overcome these gaps in the future.
Limitations
Statement of ethics
Disclosure Statement
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