Exploration of the contribution of physiotherapy students to the delivery of health services: a qualitative study

Objective: To understand the perspectives of physiotherapists on the contribution of students to the delivery of health services during clinical placements.Methods: Focus groups with a semi-structured interview guide were completed separately with new graduate physiotherapists reflecting on their student experience and experienced physiotherapists from five Queensland public health-sector hospitals. Interviews were transcribed verbatim in preparation for thematic analysis. Interview manuscripts were read independently and initially coding completed. Codes were compared and further refinement of themes occurred. Themes were reviewed by two investigators.Results: There were 38 new graduate participants across nine focus groups and 35 experienced physiotherapists across six focus groups who participated in this study. Students participate in a range of activities during clinical placements some of which contribute to delivery of health services and others which support student learning. Three major themes were identified: 1) tangible student contribution; 2) non-tangible student contribution; and 3) factors that influence the student contribution.Conclusions: Overwhelmingly, both new graduate and experienced physiotherapists felt that students do contribute to the delivery of health services however careful consideration of a variety of factors is necessary to maximize the student contribution.