Enhancing service productivity in acute care inpatient settings using a collaborative clinical education model

School of Physiotherapy, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE. Exposure of physical therapy students to acute inpatient settings is difficult to achieve because of staff shortages and 1:1 supervision. The purpose of this study was to examine the productivity effects of the 2:1 teaching model in the acute inpatient clinical setting. Changes in patient throughput and the amount of care provided were the measures used to define productivity. SUBJECTS. The work load measurement statistics of 8 Clinical Instructors (CIs) and 16 physical therapy students were examined. METHODS. The productivity of each CI during a control period was compared with the productivity of the CI-student team. RESULTS. Each CI-student team's mean productivity was greater during the clinical placement than during the control period when the CI worked independently. Even when the students' productivity measures were prorated by 0.6, the productivity was greater during the student placement than during the control period. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION. The study demonstrates that students make positive contributions to clinical service units that can exceed normal productivity levels of the CI. The 2:1 model has the potential to increase productivity while increasing the numbers of placements for academic programs in limited specialty areas.

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				J. Strohschein, P. Hagler, and L. May Assessing the Need for Change in Clinical Education Practices Physical Therapy, February 1, 2002; 82(2): 160 - 172. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]