Factors associated with student satisfaction within a regional student-led physiotherapy clinic: A retrospective qualitative study

Abstract

Clinical education requires students to integrate theoretical knowledge and skills into real-life clinical environments. Most clinical education opportunities remain within metropolitan hospitals where student education is often secondary to patient care. In response, many Universities are developing student-led clinics that focus on the student educational experience, whilst providing high-quality patient care. Understanding factors associated with student satisfaction within student-led physiotherapy clinics, particularly in regional areas, is necessary to build the regional and rural workforce. Thirty-eight students from a 3 rd and 4 th year Bachelor of Physiotherapy (Hons) undergraduate degree completed written open-ended student feedback at the completion of a five-week placement within a student-led allied health clinic in Rockhampton, Queensland between 2018 and 2019. These data were collected as feedback for the clinic and were not related to course evaluations. All responses were then transformed into one document per question and analysed following an inductive approach and semantic thematic analysis. Using thematic analysis, five key themes were identified to impact student satisfaction: 1) clinical educators and clinic staff; 2) feedback to students; 3) professional development opportunities; 4) low patient numbers and a lack of clinical presentations; and 5) facilities, equipment, and resources. This study has identified several key factors associated with positive and negative student satisfaction within a regional student-led physiotherapy clinic. Implementing factors associated with positive student satisfaction will likely enhance student learning experience and improve the clinical placement experience, potentially improving recruitment opportunities in a regional setting.

Students' perceptions of a UK physiotherapy student‐led clinic

“…One of the primary goals of many SLCs is to develop clinical skills 4 . This study found that students perceived the SLC as contributing to the development of their clinical skills, which agrees with research by Heales et al, 27 who investigated factors affecting student satisfaction in an Australian student‐led physiotherapy clinic, and a study conducted with physiotherapy students in a student‐led pro bono clinic in the US 18 . Other studies have supported this finding with objective improvement of clinical performance scores for individual physiotherapy students participating in SLCs 32 …”

“…On traditional clinical placements, physiotherapy students are normally supervised during patient contact in a 1:1 or 1:2 model, 26 and although new models are emerging, they are still in their infancy. Participants noted that the 4:1 supervision model in this SLC gave them sufficient space and yet a safe environment for practice, which agrees with research investigating SLCs as a placement by Heales et al 27 and Mosely et al, 24 with the latter operating a 10:1 model of supervision. The findings of this study and the study by Mosely et al 24 would support the premise that a successful and productive learning environment in the form of a SLC can be created with lower ratios of qualified staff to students than is the norm for traditional clinical placements.…”

Clinical activity profile of physiotherapy students in a regional student-led musculoskeletal clinic: A retrospective study

“…Finally, student-led clinics may provide additional learning activities (e.g., supporting sporting and other community events) which reduce the amount of time students are allocated to clinical appointments. These extra-curricular activities, which include observational surgeries, weekly tutorials, and coverage of local sporting events, are appreciated by the students and seen as a positive learning experience (Heales et al, 2021); however, they do come at a cost of less clinic time. Overall, students attending clinical placement within our regional student-led musculoskeletal clinic see on average less total OOS than a musculoskeletal outpatient clinic; however, evidence suggests that students attending student-led clinics may receive additional skills in business management, administration, marketing, and promotion (Moore et al, 2003), as well as benefits to the local community receiving additional access to affordable high-quality health care (Stuhlmiller & Tolchard, 2015).…”