A survey to understand the need of early clinical exposure in improving professional skills among physiotherapy students
Nidhi Govind Ladha, Swati Sanjay DhawaleBACKGROUND:
Early clinical exposure (ECE) marks the start of professional socialization, connecting basic sciences with medical practice and integrating them vertically. Much of the research literature has investigated the clinical experiences of medical students, whereas very few studies have explored a physiotherapy student’s perspective of a clinical placement in a hospital setting at the early learning stage of a 4-year program.
AIMS:
The study aimed at understanding the need for ECE in improving professional skills among physiotherapy students.
SETTINGS AND DESIGN:
Physiotherapy colleges (Pune, Maharashtra), cross-sectional study.
METHODS:
The study was conducted over 6 months and a total of 160 physiotherapy students participated in the study. All students were invited to participate in the study using Google Forms Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS Inc. (2007). SPSS statistics for Windows, Version 16.0. Chicago.
RESULTS:
Among 160 participants, 143 (88%) were aware of the concept of ECE. 69.3%, 64.3%, 63.8%, and 58.1% of the students believed that ECE will improve their knowledge about the topic, help in a better understanding of topics and will help them to score good marks and enhance their ability of presenting cases, respectively. 68.1% and 66.4% of the students believed that ECE will improve their attitude and communication skills with patients and will provide better hands-on practice in the future, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS:
There is a strong need to implement ECE to help improve professional skills among physiotherapy students.