Perspectives on Clinical Education: How physiotherapy students learn in the clinic

Abstract

Clinical internship provides the real-life or contextual, social, and  interactive experience that helps students translate abstract theories learned in the classroom to clinical practice. In many quarters, it is generally presumed that clinical teaching can effectively be done by any competent and experienced practitioner. This paper elucidates how learning takes place in the clinic. It highlights periods of weigh in or acclimatization, legitimate peripheral participation, alignment with the practice setting or community, and active engagement, as stages in clinical learning. It identifies engagement, reflection, observation and dialogue as daily activities needed to make sense and derive meaning from learning in the clinic. It also utilizes the distinctive features of two clinical education organization models to provide insight into how clinical teaching skills and the mentorprotégé relationship between teachers and students can be enhanced in contemporary clinical education in Nigeria.

KEYWORDS: clinical education, learning, clinics, clinical rotations