Physiotherapy students’ and clinical teachers’ perspectives on best clinical teaching and learning practices: A qualitative study.

Abstract

Background: Clinical education forms a core component of the training of physiotherapy students. Little research on the efficacy of commonly used physiotherapy clinical learning and teaching opportunities are available. Objective: This paper sought to identify the clinical teaching and learning opportunities that undergraduate physiotherapy students and clinical teachers viewed as effective in enhancing learning, as well as the reasoning behind their views.Design: A qualitative research design was used. Data was analyzed using content analysis. Data was coded, cate gorized and conceptualized into key themes and patterns. Participants: All third year (n=40) and fourth year (n=40) physiotherapy students as well as their clinical teachers (n=37) were eligible to participate. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with a purposive sample consisting of six third-year students, six fourth-year students and six clinical teachers. Results: The results indicated that learning is best facilitated in open, relaxed environments.Demonstrations of patient management by teachers and students, discussion of patient cases, feedback and formative assessment were identified to be effective strategies to enhance development of clinical competence. Conclusion: Clinical education, using focused and structured processes, could ensure that students are exposed to a range of learning opportunities for development of clinical competence.