Status: Article accepted
Authors: Sophie Buckley, Louise Fazakarley, Mel Hughes
DOI: 10.14426/opj/asb20230109
Date submitted: 27/06/2022
Date accepted: 09/01/2023
Introduction This report is the third in a series of research reports (see reports one and two) critically reflecting on the involvement of people with lived experience in a UK based physiotherapy degree programme. The goal of all three reports has been to challenge the lack of empirical evidence base for involvement in physiotherapy education. …
Continue reading “Involving people with lived experience in physiotherapy education – Research report three: Developing equal partnerships”
Read: Involving people with lived experience in physiotherapy education – Research report three: Developing equal partnerships
Status: Article accepted
Authors: Tom Easterbrook, Emma Blackman, Kathryn Collins, Mel Hughes
DOI: 10.14426/opj/ate20230119
Date submitted: 27/06/2022
Date accepted: 09/01/2023
Introduction This report is part of a series of case reports critically reflecting on the involvement of people with lived experience in a UK based physiotherapy degree programme (see reports one and three). An initial scoping review of the literature (Jury, Mohan and Hughes 2022) found only two papers (Thomson and Hilton 2011, 2013) exploring …
Continue reading “Involving people with lived experience in physiotherapy education – Research report two: Harnessing the expertise of people with lived experience”
Read: Involving people with lived experience in physiotherapy education – Research report two: Harnessing the expertise of people with lived experience
Status: Article accepted
Authors: Rachel Jury, Vikram Mohan, Mel Hughes
DOI: 10.14426/opj/a20230119
Date submitted: 27/06/2022
Date accepted: 09/01/2023
In September 2014, the physiotherapy regulator for England and Wales (Health and Care Professions Council) introduced an education and training standard requiring service user and carer involvement in all approved programmes (HCPC 2018) including physiotherapy. Despite this, a scoping literature search on the involvement of people with lived experience in physiotherapy education and training returned only two results (Thomson and Hilton 2011, 2013), both of which pre-date the regulatory requirement. This means that there is no documented scientific literature on a client's lived experience involvement in a physiotherapy course since the introduction of this standard.
Read: Involving people with lived experience in physiotherapy education – Research report one: Reflecting together to enhance teaching outcomes
Status: Article accepted
Authors: Kim Buchholtz, Roberto Meroni, Bettina Karsten, Fraser Carson
DOI: 10.14426/opj/a20201117
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: 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