Remediation Toolbox: Finally….the Instruction Manual!
Purpose: Students in physical therapy curricula face extraordinary pressures to learn, retain, and adapt learning within increasingly complex environments. As scientific and professional knowledge expands, so too does the expectation that healthcare providers remain current with increasingly greater volumes of information and data. To balance this skill, knowledge, and aptitude expansion against rising tuition costs, students are expected to integrate tremendous amounts of material in a relatively short period of time. Despite concerted efforts to select appropriate students for admission and supportively challenge those students throughout the curriculum, some students will experience academic and/or clinical failures. In these situations, programs must determine if, how, and when to engage remediation resources, and how to do so given resource and obligatory constraints. Once engaged, remediation efforts must ensure equity between student learning needs and departmental resources. Remediation programs often raise difficult ethical questions for the academic program. Are resources being directed to the minority of students who struggle at the expense of the majority of students who might benefit from ongoing enrichment? What amount of additional resources is ‘right’ for unsuccessful students given the majority of students matriculate successfully? And conversely, what obligation does the program have in offering remediation to students once accepted into the program?Methods and/or Description of Project: During our presentation, we will offer methods for assessment of ongoing remediation programs, including the policies and procedures governing such practices. The structure and content of these remediation programs will be explored, along with the process for determination of such. The components of remediation programming will be discussed, along with assessment techniques and practical application of these components by students in remediation.Results/Outcomes: The remediation program presented has proven effective within the rigor of a physical therapist education program. The levels of evidence of this effectiveness will be provided, and programmatic lessons learned will be shared during this presentation. Student outcomes will also be presented, specific to success within and following formal remediation programs.Conclusions/Relevance to the conference theme: Our Leadership Landscape: Perspectives from the Ground Level to 30,000 Feet: This presentation speaks directly to the ability and capacity of academic physical therapy programs of “developing strategies to build resilience in academic and clinical environments” and “taking flight and advancing PT education to promote access and equity”. We will speak directly to the need to build resilience both from the program’s perspective as well as the student’s, by offering structured yet individualized learning programs to strengthen students’ grasp of course content and application toward clinical practice. Additionally, in discussing the specific components of remediation, this presentation will address multi-model methods of developing and assessing students’ ability to thrive in complex healthcare environments.References: Anderson DK, Irwin KE. Self assessment of professionalism in physical therapist education. Work. 2013; 44(3): 275-281. Dutton LL, Sellheim DO. The informal and hidden curriculum in physical therapist education. J Phys Ther Educ. 2014; 28(3): 50-63. Ferguson PW, Hopwood JD, Sinatra GM, Wallmann HW. Selected legal issues influencing evaluation of physical therapist graduate student professional behaviors in the academic environment. Journal of Physical Therapy Education. 2005; 19(1): 16-20 Holden M, Buck E, Clark M, Szauter K, Trumble J, et al. Professional identity formation in medical education: the convergence of multiple domains. HEC Forum: An Interdisciplinary Journal on Hospitals’ Ethical and Legal Issues. 2012; 24(4): 245-255. Jeffries MN, Barclay SM, Stolte SK. Academic entitlement and academic performance in graduating pharmacy students. Am J Pharm Educ. 2014; 78(6): article 116. OCR Protecting Students with Disabilities. Office of Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education Web site. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/504faq.html. Updated October 16, 2015. Accessed March 17, 2017.Course Objectives: Following this presentation, participants will be able to: Identify educationally and ethically sound strategies to support students during remediation efforts. Analyze alignment of program practices for remediation in academic physical therapy with best practices using the presented principles. Discuss the appropriateness and/or composition of remediation programs. Analyze and discuss the strengths and pitfalls of remediation programs given various factors, including stage of program completion.Instructional Methods: Lecture, large group discussion, question / answerTentative Outline/Schedule: 5 min: Introduction to issues regarding remediation efforts 15 min: Policies and procedures governing matriculation and remediation 40 min: Structure of remediation process -Development of individualized remediation programs -Resource analysis 15 min: Outcomes of program 15 min: Question / answer