Status: Article under review
Authors: Issakainen M, Mustonen H, Kuisma R
DOI: to be allocated
Date submitted: 06/10/2021
Background: Physical activity is important for health and well-being for all ages. The recommendation for children and adolescents is at least 60 minutes moderate- to vigorous- intensity physical activity daily and two third of Finnish children achieve these recommendations. Schools have an important role in children’s physical activity and physiotherapists as experts in motor development, movement and mobility could contribute largely in this respect to children's health and wellbeing in school healthcare system. This article describes, how school physiotherapy was developed and organized in North Karelia in cooperation with Karelia University of Applied Sciences (Karelia), schools in the Joensuu region and the Siun sote- Joint municipal authority for North Karelia social and health services. Aim: The aim of the pilot project was to promote the health, well-being, and functional capacity of children and adolescent. The purpose of the school physiotherapy pilot was to build a school physiotherapy model for schools in the North Karelia region. Results: As a result of the school physiotherapy pilot, a model for school physiotherapy practice was created. Conclusion: School physiotherapy pilot was shown to be helpful in improving the activity levels and motor development of school-aged children and adolescents. It is hoped that school physiotherapy will develop further to promote the health and well-being, motor skills and functional capacity of children and adolescents through physical activity.
Read: Physiotherapy students promoting health and well-being of school-aged children and adolescents in North Karelia, Finland
Status: Article under review
Authors: John JN, Asogwa JA, Okezue OC, John DO, Mgbeojedo UG, Ezeukwu AO
DOI: to be allocated
Date submitted: 05/07/2021
Background: Feedback from students regarding their clinical learning environment and clinical instructors should be assessed regularly as it may affect the outcome of learning, readiness for professional practice, and level of satisfaction with the profession. Aim: To determine physiotherapy students’ perception of their clinical learning environment and their clinicians’ teaching attributes. Methods: This cross-sectional study conveniently recruited 258 participants from two academic institutions, which offer physiotherapy training in southeast Nigeria. Two self-structured questionnaires, McGill clinical Teacher Evaluation tool and Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure were used to collect data. The Mann-Whitney U test determined the difference in the students’ perception of their clinical learning environment and clinician’s teaching attributes amongst the institution of learning as well as the level of study. In addition, the Mann-Whitney U test also determined the difference in the student’s perception of their clinician's teaching attributes based on clinical instructors' gender. The Kruskal Wallis test compared the student’s perception of their clinician's teaching attributes on the basis of their last clinical posting unit and the highest educational level of the instructors. Results: Perception of the students’ learning environment resulted in more positive compared to negative features. The highest rated category was perception of learning, while the lowest was social perception. The highest rated category for clinicians was the ‘Clinical interest in helping students to learn’, while the lowest rated was ‘Emphasizes concept rather than factual recall’. A significant difference existed for ‘clinical learning environment’ amongst institution and level of study. Conclusion: There is a need for regular evaluation of the clinical instructors’ attributes, and the clinical learning environment in order to monitor students’ learning outcomes and to ensure readiness for professional practice.
Read: Physiotherapy students’ perception of their clinical learning environment and clinician teaching attributes in Nigeria
Status: Article under review
Authors: Forbes R, Toloui-Wallace J
DOI: to be allocated
Date submitted: 25/02/2021
Background: Diagnostic uncertainty in musculoskeletal pain presents as a frequent and challenging dilemma encountered by physiotherapists. Current literature indicates that diagnostic uncertainty impacts the clinical decision making of experienced and new graduate physiotherapists, highlighting a need for training and support in this space. Aim: This paper outlines considerations for diagnostic uncertainty in the management of musculoskeletal pain. It outlines five key strategies to help student and novice physiotherapists experiencing and navigating diagnostic uncertainty when managing individuals with musculoskeletal pain. These strategies include looking critically at diagnostic certainty; recognising and normalising uncertainty; utilising direct practice and authentic experiences, and Balint groups as a strategy for sharing. Conclusion: New graduate physiotherapists frequently experience diagnostic uncertainty in the management of musculoskeletal pain. There is a need to focus on acknowledging and managing diagnostic uncertainty in physiotherapy education and workplace support to address the ethical and emotional reactions associated with uncertainty. Physiotherapy educators and professionals can lead by example, acknowledging and sharing uncertainty and exploring this with students.
Read: Diagnostic uncertainty in musculoskeletal pain: Implications for physiotherapy education
Status: Article under review
Authors: SD Perumal
DOI: To be allocated
Date submitted: 12/11/2020
In modern education, flipped-blended learning has gained popularity around the globe. However, pedagogical inquiry of what we teach, where we teach, how and how much we blend in face to face (F2F) and online teaching is focused on the account of instructors (lecturer) designing new models of flipped-blended learning at undergraduate physiotherapy courses. This article describes a case report that illustrates why TBL and how hybrid TBL can be used to help undergraduate physiotherapy students (year 2) to understand and improve their ‘4Cs’ - Critical thinking, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity in a cardio-respiratory disease management topic. This case report intends to answer one big question “Is H-TBL a way forward for 21st-century learning?”
Read: A way forward: Teaching lens for embedding 4C’s in 21st century learning for future Physiotherapy Graduates Education
Status: Article accepted
Authors: Kim Buchholtz, Roberto Meroni, Bettina Karsten, Fraser Carson
DOI: 10.14426/art/1564
Date submitted: 29/07/2020
Date accepted: 17/11/2020
In this report we reflect on the decision-making process and actions taken by a young higher education institution to the COVID-19 pandemic to continue teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate physiotherapy degree programmes. LUNEX University is unique in that it is the only higher education institute in Luxembourg to provide education in physiotherapy. The response to the global pandemic is further complicated as the majority of students commute across international borders to attend campus. We have focused on three distinct challenges LUNEX staff faced to ensure continued and quality teaching was provided: 1) Response to the country-wide and global shutdown; 2) Return to campus; and 3) Provision of clinical placements. We describe the decisions and actions to rapidly move to a blended learning format, and the strategic approach to incorporating simulated practice after restrictions were eased and a return to campus was possible. Initial observation suggests improvement in student competency in practical skills as a result of the blended learning approach. Recommendations are provided to encourage the integration of blended learning for practical and clinical degree programmes, like physiotherapy, where an emphasis is placed on simulated practice in classroom settings, underpinned by prior theoretical knowledge delivered online.
Read: Responding to COVID-19: LUNEX University’s decisions and actions to continue physiotherapy education
Status: Article accepted
Authors: Joost van Wijchen, Roger Kerry, Maria Nordheim Alme
DOI: 10.14426/art/1552
Date submitted: 19/07/2020
Date accepted: 12/01/2021
The Covid-19 pandemic presented challenges for students and teachers to engage and create good learning environments. In this situation, new opportunities for learners and teachers to engage and learn have evolved. Historically, communities of practices have been developed and used to help solve complex and dynamic challenges in society. The idea is that people get an opportunity to work together to solve a specific challenge or task. Here we present a pedagogical community of practice (CoP), QuaranTrain, where students from different countries have developed a platform for co-creation and sharing material and strategies for better health during a period with social distancing. This student-led and self-organised CoP have created a framework for learning that our health care educations can be inspired by and use in their programs. We conclude that out of this challenging situation, new and creative ways of learning emerged, which can enrich and develop health care education.
Read: QuaranTrain: An international community of practice for learning
Status: Article accepted
Authors: Christopher Tack
DOI: 10.14426/art/1434
Date submitted: 06/07/2020
Date accepted: 08/12/2020
Background: Healthcare digital transformation should focus on the use of innovative technologies to enhance quality, safety, efficiency of care services, and patient experience. Subsequently, the roles and skills of healthcare staff will change, requiring evaluation and elevation of digital literacy across the physiotherapy profession. Aim: To evaluate the confidence, motivation and competence of digital technologies in a cohort of UK physiotherapists (juxtaposed with a wider group of allied health professionals). Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional online questionnaire of physiotherapists and other allied health professionals (AHPs) in the UK. Results: 282 responses from AHPs were received with 279 complete responses for further analysis (including 126 physiotherapists). Physiotherapists report moderate-high levels of confidence in the use of digital devices (7.6 ±1.77), and high levels of motivation in learning about digital technology (8.7 ±1.6). Physiotherapists self-rate their knowledge regarding the benefits of digital transformation as high (72%). Physiotherapists show a strong preference for daily communication via telephone (82%) and email (97%). Conclusion: Physiotherapists demonstrate moderate-high levels of confidence and motivation to use digital technologies (in line with those seen in other AHPs). Higher degrees of competence are reported regarding understanding the benefits of digital technology, and lower competence is reported regarding topic areas such as artificial intelligence and data analytics.
Read: Digital confidence, experience and motivation in physiotherapists: A UK-wide survey
Status: Article accepted
Authors: Shaun Cleaver, Sidhiprada Mohapatra, Mathieu Simard,
DOI: 10.14426/opj/20210303
Date submitted: 01/07/2020
Date accepted: 03/03/2021
Background: The COVID-19 global pandemic, and the policies created to respond to it, has had profound and widespread impacts. We – three early career physiotherapist academics focused on equity and human rights – noticed both common and divergent experiences amid the impacts of the initial pandemic response. Aim: To explore the professional contexts in which we operate as physiotherapist academics through an analysis of our COVID-19 pandemic-related experiences. Methods: We used a professional practice analytic framework to conduct a collective biographical analysis of our individual and collective experiences. The analytic framework consists of three lenses (accountability, ethics, and professional-as-worker), each of which is considered through three questions. Results: The analysis revealed the instability of our working conditions. Among us, there were experiences of the pandemic inducing unmanageable workloads and also experiences of the pandemic providing reprieve. We found that our accountability to departments and funders competed for our professional resources with our ethics of providing quality services. The combination of accountability obligations and ethics commitments often overwhelmed our capacities to sustainably maintain well-being. Caregiver status was an important characteristic determining whether the professional context improved or deteriorated in the early pandemic phase. Conclusion: This analysis can help inform essential changes to professional and academic institutions during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read: Contagious precarity: A collective biographical analysis of early-career physiotherapist academics’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic
Status: Article accepted
Authors: Maiju Issakainen, Sini Puustinen, Raija Kuisma
DOI: 10.14426/art/1355
Date submitted: 04/06/2020
Date accepted: 27/10/2020
Background: Musculoskeletal physiotherapy (MSK) is learned and practiced in a classroom with the guidance of a physiotherapy teacher. In Karelia University of Applied Sciences, a flipped classroom approach has been implemented and developed actively since 2017 in MSK courses in physiotherapy education. However, the COVID-19 pandemic changed everyday life very fast all over the world. Karelia, like all other schools, moved all activities into remote mode very quickly and "normal" teaching methods had to change. Aim: This article describes how the change from contact to remote teaching was implemented in MSK courses in the physiotherapy programme at Karelia in Finland, using a flipped classroom approach. The article also highlights students’ experiences of remote teaching in these courses, although theoretical analysis and discussion on the impact on students' learning is not considered in this Research Note. We are planning to continue exploring the impact and practice of this remote teaching approach, which is becoming the new normal. Conclusion: Well-planned pedagogical manuscript implemented with a flipped classroom approach seems to work well in teaching physiotherapy theory and skills remotely. Carefully planned learning tasks and individual feedback are particularly important for learning during remote teaching. Video and text material in theoretical and practical MSK topics seemed to support students’ learning during the remote teaching and video feedback especially, could be used more in the future.
Read: An overnight shift towards remote teaching and learning of musculoskeletal physiotherapy in Karelia University of Applied Sciences in Finland
Status: Article accepted
Authors: Roma Forbes, Romany Martin
DOI: 10.14426/art/1310
Date submitted: 27/05/2020
Date accepted: 07/07/2020
Background: Increasing, supporting and sustaining the capacity for physiotherapy student placements is a priority for universities and the physiotherapy workforce. The interruption, and in some cases, cancellation of placements as a result of Covid-19 has provided an added impetus to consider the use of flexible and adaptive models to meet student learning needs and support new and existing placement host organisations. Project-based learning provides an opportunity to supplement clinical placements through student-led activities that are mutually beneficial for student learning and service delivery needs of the host organisation. Aim: This paper outlines the pedagogical underpinnings of project-based learning and provides tangible examples of activities that have been adopted within physiotherapy host organisations to support clinical placement quality and capacity. Discussion: Clinical placement host organisations require flexible, student-centred approaches to supporting clinical placement efforts during 2020 and beyond. Project-based learning has the potential to be adapted across settings to support student learning and host organisation services and their stakeholders. Universities should aim to encourage and support partnerships between host organisations and their students to adopt, evaluate and sustain project-based learning across physiotherapy settings.
Read: Project-based learning for physiotherapy clinical education quality and capacity