A Comparison of Two Strategies for Teaching Medical Screening and Patient Referral in a Physical Therapist Professional Degree Program

Abstract

Background and Purpose. Little quantitative research exists describing the effectiveness of instructional strategies for developing medical screening and patient referral abilities of physical therapist (PT) professional degree students. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of 2 patient case-based instructional strategies designed to promote these abilities: (1) a traditional lecture (TL) format and (2) student/faculty role-playing (RP) sessions. Methods/Model and Description and Evaluation. Fifty-one first-year Master of Physical Therapy (MPT) students enrolled in a cardiopulmonary course volunteered to participate in the study. Four patient cases were presented in either a TL or RP format. After completion of the instructional unit, students took a written examination, rated their levels of confidence in medical screening and patient referral abilities, and completed a unit evaluation assessing the instructor's behavior and teaching methods. Outcomes. Compared to the TL group, the RP group: (1) achieved higher overall scores on the written examination (P = .01), and on questions representing the Application level of Bloom's Taxonomy (P = .01); (2) reported higher self-confidence in medical screening and patient referral abilities (P < .05); and (3) were more satisfied with their educational experience than the TL group (P = .0001). There were no between-group differences in student demographics, grade point averages, performance on the knowledge and the synthesis level questions, learning styles, or students' perception of the instructor's level of interest in teaching the material. Discussion and Conclusion. The RP group's examination performance, self-confidence, and satisfaction appeared to be enhanced by the teaching strategy, rather than student characteristics or instructor bias. Our results suggest that case-based active learning activities including RP strategies should be incorporated into physical therapist education program curricula to develop medical screening and patient referral skills.