Meaning of Caring to 7 Novice Physical Therapists During Their First Year of Clinical Practice

Abstract

Caring has been identified as a rules-based approach to good patient care, as a core value in physical therapist professional behavior, as a part of experienced and expert practice, as a virtue, and as a moral orientation. Previous research showed that experienced and expert female physical therapists value compassion and caring in clinical practice. However, little is known about how novice physical therapists care for their patients. The purpose of this study was to explore the meaning of caring from the perspectives of novice physical therapists. Seven novice physical therapists (with less than 1 year of clinical experience) working in either an outpatient or an inpatient facility were recruited. A qualitative method (phenomenology) was used, with data being obtained from retrospective interviews of the novice physical therapists regarding their experiences in the clinic. Three common themes relating to the nature of caring emerged: learning to care (with the following subthemes: barriers to caring, the "difficult" patient, finding a balance, and time constraints), patients as subjects, and the culture of the clinic. The novice physical therapists in this study expressed difficulty in dealing with difficult patients, with time management, and with balancing their professional and personal lives. However, despite the barriers to caring, many of these participants viewed caring not just as a rules-based approach but as a core value and, in some cases, a moral orientation that guided their first year of clinical practice. The findings suggest that caring requires certain skills and attitudes that accrue over time and that physical therapist education programs should integrate learning experiences (including clinical experiences) throughout the curriculum that foster caring behaviors in order to prepare students for the first-year transition in the clinic. In addition, experienced clinicians should appreciate how their clinic's culture and their behaviors can help model caring attitudes in novice physical therapists.