What Clinical Instructors Want: Perspectives on a New Assessment Tool for Students in the Clinical Environment

Abstract

PURPOSE: Many Canadian physical therapy education programs use the 1997 version of the Physical Therapist Clinical Performance Instrument (PT-CPI) to evaluate students in their clinical placements. Recent evidence that clinical instructors (CIs) are unsatisfied with the PT-CPI, however, suggests a need to develop a new assessment tool. The purpose of this study was to gather Canadian CIs' perspectives on rating scales, preferred training methods, and format for future tool development. METHODS: This qualitative descriptive study involved five focus groups from across Canada. English-speaking CIs who had supervised at least one Canadian student in clinical practice were eligible for the study. RESULTS: Participants identified concerns with the PT-CPI and indicated a preference for (1) more objective rating scales with clearly defined anchors, (2) both in-person and online training methods for CIs, and (3) a tool that could be completed and reviewed on paper or online. CONCLUSIONS: CIs affirmed the need to develop a new assessment tool. RESULTS of the study will be used to inform the development of a new assessment tool to better evaluate Canadian physical therapy students' performance in the clinical setting.