Status: Article under review
Authors: Okayama Y, RPT, PhD, and Daikuya S, RPT, PhD
DOI: to be allocated
Date submitted: 05/04/2022
In Japan, physiotherapist is quantified ‘experienced’ as someone with sufficient time in the field, regardless of their level, efficacy or quality of training. However, this definition is insufficient in establishing quality and uniformity among physiotherapists in Japan. The purpose of this study is to establish groundwork for standardization in education and evaluation. Therefore, it was to clarify physiotherapy skills by means of a Weight Shifting (WS) practical assessment. Participants of this study were 10 physiotherapists from 2 institutions. The WS was repeated 3 times on a simulated patient. The ground reaction force (GRF) of the simulated patient was recorded during the task. The ratio of the center of pressure (COP) displacement was calculated by dividing COP displacement by the distance between the center of pressure of both feet of the simulated patient to normalize. Correlational statistical analysis was used to confirm whether years of experience changes the degree of WS. The obtained data was compared between their institutions. The results of this study confirm that the correlation between the data obtained and years of therapists’ experience is weak or absent. There were significant differences between each institution’s ratios for COP displacement as well as the maximum GRF. It was considered that years of therapists’ experience does not necessarily correlate with physiotherapy skill, especially if they have 6 or more years of experience. Greater differences were observed between institutions with regards to the characteristics of physiotherapy skill.
Read: Physiotherapy skills in the difference of years of therapists’ experience and affiliations
Status: Article accepted
Authors: John JN, Asogwa JA, Okezue OC, John DO, Mgbeojedo UG, Ezeukwu AO
DOI: 10.14426/opj/a20220428
Date submitted: 05/07/2021
Date accepted: 28/04/2022
Background: Feedback from students regarding their clinical learning environment and clinicians teaching attributes should be evaluated regularly to monitor students' learning experiences, which can affect learning outcomes, the readiness for professional practice, and the level of satisfaction with the profession. Differences may exist in this feedback from students based on their institution, level of study, and characteristics of the clinicians. Aim: To evaluate physiotherapy students’ perception of their clinical learning environment and clinicians’ teaching attributes. Methods: This cross-sectional study utilised 258 participants from two academic institutions, which offer physiotherapy training in southeast Nigeria. A self-structured questionnaire, the McGill Clinical Teacher Evaluation tool (MCGill CTE) and the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure (DREEM) were used to collect the data. Descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation were used to present the mean scores obtained on the DREEM questionnaire and McGill CTE tool. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine the difference in the students’ perception of their clinical learning environment and clinicians' teaching attributes based on their institution of learning and level of study. In addition, the Mann-Whitney U test also determined the difference in the students' perception of their clinicians teaching attributes based on the clinicians' gender, while the Kruskal Wallis test determined the difference in the students' perception of their clinician's teaching attributes based on their last clinical posting unit and the highest educational level of the clinicians. Results: The students perceived their learning environment to be “more positive than negative”. The highest-rated domain in the DREEM questionnaire was "perception of learning", while the lowest was "social perception". The highest-rated attribute for clinicians in the McGill CTE tool was "clinical interest in helping students to learn", while the lowest was "emphasises concept rather than factual recall". A significant difference was observed in the students rating of their clinical learning environment based on their institution and level of study. Conclusion: There is a need for regular evaluation of students' perception of their clinicians’ teaching attributes and the clinical learning environment to ensure the desired learning outcomes are attained and that students are ready for professional practice after training.
Read: Physiotherapy students’ perception of their clinical learning environment and clinician teaching attributes in Nigeria
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: 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: Jerin Mathew, Muhammed Rashid, Priyanka Shirsath, Kavitha Raja
DOI: 10.14426/art/1126
Date submitted: 04/02/2020
Date accepted: 03/12/2020
Background and purpose: It is necessary to bring the current understanding of pain to undergraduate, postgraduate, and academic faculty of physiotherapy in all the universities and independent institutions in India. Approximately 15,000 students graduate every year from various physiotherapy institutions in India. More than 20,000 physiotherapists teach or practice in various institutions, hospitals, and universities. The current pain curriculum for physiotherapy education is outdated and scanty. Physiotherapists are first-line managers of pain and it is important to understand the current advances in pain management to effect competent practice. Methods: An action research methodological concept (three phases) has been adapted to identify the missing areas of pain science from the physiotherapy curricula of universities of India (n=30). Instructional Digital Versatile Discs (DVD) was developed in these areas by experts through consensus methods. The reach of the study was evaluated through Google forms and email responses received from the participating institutions. Results: Pain lectures (22 hours) were recorded and four DVDs were commercially produced and duplicated. The DVDs were sent to all the universities and individual institutions (n=469) by post and recommended that they incorporate the information into the undergraduate and postgraduate curricula. The lecture series was also made available online via the institutional library depository system. Conclusion: This project has created a snowball effect by imparting current understanding and knowledge in young therapists and teaching faculty as the lectures are available on the website of the participating institution. Cultural and other characteristics are similar across the countries of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Myanmar) and all of these countries use English as the medium of higher education. Hence a regional impact is also anticipated.
Read: Development of learning material to complement pain education of physiotherapists in Indian universities: A synthesis of an action research study
Status: Article accepted
Authors: Meike Schwinger, Marion Grafe
DOI: 10.14426/art/1023
Date submitted: 16/10/2019
Date accepted: 06/02/2020
Background: Traditionally, the clinical education of physiotherapy students in Germany takes place in inpatient settings. Against the background that the majority of graduated physiotherapists work in private settings like private practices, this education structure is no longer viable. Therefore, there is a need to develop models of cooperation between private practice and schools of physiotherapy. Aim: The aim of this study is to describe advantages, barriers and options of collaboration between physiotherapy educational institutions and private practices. Methods: A qualitative interview study was conducted, in which two practice owners of a physiotherapy practice and two programme directors were interviewed using a problem-centred interview approach. All participants were contacted via email or telephone. Textual data was analysed using thematic analysis, to inductively discover and describe relevant themes. Results: The economic conditions of private practices in Germany, legal requirements and training regulations are identified as the main barriers preventing forms of collaboration. One of the advantages of offering students practical placements is their probable future employment. Successful collaboration may depend on remunerating clinical instruction time, relaxing legal requirements or increasing the participation of schools in practical training. Conclusion: Private practice needs financial and content-related support to engage in clinical education. Health insurance companies or the government could act as financial sponsors.
Read: Exploring barriers, advantages and potentials in realising clinical education in private physiotherapy practice settings in Germany
Status: Article accepted
Authors: Veronika Schoeb , Doris Chong
DOI: 10.14426/art/522
Date submitted: 27/05/2018
Date accepted: 01/03/2019
Background: Hong Kong is at the cross-road between Eastern and Western cultures. Increasing globalisation allows student to gather experiences from various educational contexts. While internationalisation has been promoted in higher education world-wide, the focus was often put on students from Chinese cultures integrating into Westernised education systems. Not much is known about how students from Chinese background with exposures to Western cultures, reintegrate into a Hong Kong university, characterised by a highly competitive system that potentially affects students’ well-being. Aim: To identify learning preferences by Hong Kong physiotherapy students who have been exposed to educational contexts in USA, Australia or Canada, and to explore their subjective experiences regarding different educational approaches during their studies. Methods: Ten students participated in this phenomenological study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in English, transcribed ‘ad verbatim’ and analysed using qualitative content analysis. Findings: Three themes emerged from the data: (1) Interaction between students and teachers, (2) past experiences that help with future dreams, and (3) obstacles and opportunities in learning.
Conclusion: Physiotherapy students with globalised experience rely on their past educational exposure to give meaning to their future. They believe that a student-centred approach is crucial for learning. Their experiences shed light on consideration factors for optimally internationalising the physiotherapy curriculum.
Read: Students’ learning preferences and experience in a globalised world: Opportunity to optimise internationalisation in physiotherapy education
Status: Article accepted
Authors: Felicity AS Bright, Christine Cummins, Kate Waterworth, Barbara E Gibson, Peter Larmer
DOI: 10.14426/art/509
Date submitted: 18/05/2018
Date accepted: 19/12/2018
Background: Communication is fundamental in collaborative physiotherapy practice. Students develop understandings of what constitutes ‘good’ communication through the formal, informal and hidden curricula. Understanding how students understand communication and how this is influenced by the curricula can help educators consider how best to enhance communication knowledge and skills. Aim: This study explored how physiotherapy students conceptualised clinical communication. Methods: This study was underpinned by a social constructionist epistemology. Data consisted of fifteen assignments, completed by students as part of their coursework. Assignments were analysed using the Listening Guide which prompted attention to how the different ways students understood communication and how these understandings were constructed. Results: Communication was understood as uni-dimensional. It was presented as an act done to the patient by the physiotherapist, with little attention to the patient’s communication and involvement in the interaction. Through communication, physiotherapists demonstrated and reinforced their expertise while simultaneously positioning the patient as the recipient of care and knowledge. Conclusion: Understandings of communication reflect broader constructions of physiotherapy and the role of the physiotherapist. These also reflect tensions in the curricula. Enhancing communication in student education requires all parties to understand, value and critically reflect on how communication is constructed and enacted.
Read: Physiotherapy students’ conceptualisations of clinical communication: A call to revisit communication in physiotherapy education