Clinical Education: Clinical Instructors' Productivity and Perceptions
Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this research study was to analyze the clinicians’ (PT, OT, PTA, COTA) perception of productivity versus actual productivity when working with students in skilled nursing facilities (SNF).
Hypothesis:Clinical educators when working with students in skilled nursing facilities, report a decrease in productivity consistent with objective productivity data.
Number of Subjects: Productivity data was gathered from 43 SNF settings, 212 clinicians completed the survey.
Materials and Methods: 2017 productivity data from 43 SNF clinics was collected and analyzed. The SNF data included the student days per full-time clinician equivalence, as well as the actual productivity percentage at each clinic. Microsoft Excel was used to run T-tests to compare productivity between the five sites with the highest student utilization per full-time equivalent, average of 71 days per full time equivalent, and the five sites with the lowest student utilization, average 11 days per full time equivalent. PTs, OTs, PTAs and COTAs working at 43 Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF) located in Virginia and North Carolina completed a survey via the company’s intranet system. The survey was created using the Qualtrics Survey Creation Tool. Clinicians’ perception regarding productivity was gathered through a multiple choice question, additional comments could be made in a text box.
Results: There was no significant difference between productivity in the five sites with the highest student utilization (76.1%) versus the five sites with the lowest student utilization (76.6%). Of the 212 clinicians who answered the perceived productivity question: 21% reported a significant decrease in productivity, 59% reported a slight decrease in productivity, 9% reported no change in productivity, 10% reported a slight increase in productivity and 1% reported a significant increase in productivity. Fifteen of the 212 people who entered a comment stated that productivity decreases initially but increased by the end of the learning experience.
Conclusions: Supervising students does not negatively impact a clinicians’ productivity in a SNF. This results were consistent across disciplines. Despite these finding, clinicians perceive a decrease in productivity when working with students, especially during the beginning of the learning experience.
Clinical Relevance: SNF Sites are concerned with meeting productivity standards and many feel productivity levels decrease with student involvement. Despite consistency in productivity, the majority of clinicians perceived a decrease in productivity when working with students. Additional investigation into this disparity is warranted.