The Clinical Placement Process Taskforce: An Update about Our Crucial Conversations
Purpose:
The purpose of this session is: 1) to present nationally the data gathered about the current status of the clinical education placement process used in entry level physical therapist and physical therapist assistant educational programs to date; and what we learned from other health professions, 2) to describe how the placement process is impacted by a lack of standardization of curricular models, variability of infrastructure and student performance expectations as well as a lack of understanding of CE clinical capacity issues; 3) to explore the issues of critical interest to clinical (site coordinators of clinical education and clinical instructors) and academic educators (including directors of clinical education, program directors and other faculty) through targeted focus groups with the participants to help guide the development of best practice guidelines and possible traffic rules.
Methods and/or Description of Project:
As a first step, the Placement Process Taskforce has used a mixed method for data gathering including: a purposeful and focused review of the health professions literature; a purposeful review of physical therapist, physical therapist assistant, and other health professions academic and clinical site placement processes currently in place; and in-depth discussions with a leaders within the field about the impact of the Excellence in PT Recommendations Taskforce on the structure and administrative processes. The inclusion of purposeful focus groups, modeled after the ELC presentation about common terminology, integrated clinical education and student readiness (in 2016) serves as the basis for these discussions.
Results/Outcomes:
Preliminary data currently being analyzed, that will be presented, includes a full investigation of the clinical education cycle, including issues related to: a variety of curricular models, including the length, number of students, and timing of full-time clinical education experiences; the evolution of the concept of academic-clinical partnerships; the roles and responsibilities of those who direct and administer the clinical education curriculum, including the director of clinical education and the site coordinator of clinical education; the role technology has played in the placement and onboarding of students; and the role student assessment of clinical performance has impacted the clinical education process. Data generated from the onsite focus groups will enhance the taskforce’s depth and breadth of understanding of key issues and will be useful in development of final recommendations concerning the placement process.
Conclusions/Relevance to the conference theme:
This presentation addresses a crucial conversation among the academic and clinical education stakeholders in regard to a topic of national concern for many years - the Clinical Education Placement Process. The collaboration between two professional organizations (the CESIG and the NCCE) is a first joint effort to address an issue that impacts many parties in the profession of physical therapy. This presentation permits transparent sharing of information as the process unfolds and provides an additional avenue of data collection involving many stakeholders. This collaborative effort between clinicians and academicians, and the 2 national bodies representing physical therapy clinical education, is a first step at building bridges in order to evaluate and give recommendations for an issue at the forefront within the clinical education community