Relationship Between Total Clinical Practice Hours During Undergraduate Education and the Clinical Competence of Novice Physical Therapists: An Exploratory, Cross-Sectional, Single-Center Pilot Study

The clinical skills of physical therapists (PTs) are crucial, as high-quality clinical competence leads to trustworthy patient care, reliable assessments, and effective therapeutic choice. Clinical practice hours (CP hours) may be used to validate theoretical knowledge acquired during training, especially among novice PTs. This exploratory, single-center, cross-sectional study examined the relationship between total CP hours during undergraduate education and novice PTs’ clinical competence. The small convenience sample comprised 25 newly recruited PTs employed by the Department of Rehabilitation at a general hospital in Japan between April 2022 and April 2023. CP hours were surveyed using Google Forms. Clinical competence was assessed using the Objective Structured Clinical Examination, employing two tasks frequently performed in clinical settings: range-of-motion exercises and muscle-strengthening exercises. Total CP hours during undergraduate education were significantly and positively correlated with clinical competence for range-of-motion exercise (ρ = 0.68; 95% CI, 0.3450–0.8677, p < 0.001). A positive trend was observed for muscle strengthening exercise (MSex) (ρ = 0.197; 95% CI, −0.3061–0.6029, p = 0.346), suggesting a ceiling effect for MSex, with relatively low correlation but high acquisition levels, even with fewer total CP hours. Overall, this study revealed a significant correlation between total CP hours during undergraduate education and novice PTs’ clinical competence.