The Clinical Site Visit: Perspectives of Physical Therapist Students

Abstract

Introduction. Best practice in clinical education includes actions to ensure strong partnerships and close, consistent communication among all stakeholders. One way this can be accomplished is through a site visit. There is limited literature supporting the most preferred communication for conducting these visits. Perspectives of physical therapist students (PTS) about the site visit process are scarce. This study explored whether PTS perceive site visits as important, PTS' preferred method of communication used to conduct these visits, and the reasons underlying these preferences. Number of Subjects. One hundred thirty-five PTS. Materials and Methods. A mixed-methods, sequential explanatory design was used. A survey was sent to current PTS and recent graduates. Additional qualitative data were collected from a subset of 8 PTS from the sample using semistructured interviews. Results. Statistical analysis showed no relationship between the level of clinical experience and preferences for communication methods and no significant differences in levels of importance of site visits. A majority of PTS preferred future visits be conducted in person as opposed to other methods of communication or having no site visit. Students indicated that in-person site visits offer more truthful communication and that although a telephone call may be “sufficient” for a site visit, in-person site visits are necessary when students are having difficulties in the clinic. Conclusions. Students are cognizant of the nonverbal cues that occur with in-person communication and that these cues add to the transparency and truthfulness of conversations. Nonverbal communication may be most impactful for the PTS experiencing difficulties during a clinical experience. Given the barriers for conducting site visits, this study provides information that can assist in the decision-making process for communication methods used to conduct these visits. Further research is needed to determine if there is alignment between PTS' perspectives and those of other stakeholders.