A study examining Utica College student physical therapists' perceptions of clinical teaching in credentialed vs. non-credentialed clinical instructors

Background: Approximately one third of the Physical Therapy curriculum is dedicated to clinical internships. There is a large variation among clinical instructors resulting in an imbalance of clinical skill relayed to the student. Purpose: To examine the difference in Utica College Physical Therapy student's perceptions of effectiveness of clinical educators. Methods: Participants consisted of Utica College Physical Therapy students who have participated in a recent clinical affiliation (50.7% M, 49.3% F). Individual items were collected from the Nursing Clinical Teaching Effectiveness Inventory (NCTEI) and McGill Clinical Teacher Evaluation (CTE) to create an instrument that addressed the requirements of a clinical instructor as set by the APTA. The survey instrument was administered through e-mail via SurveyMonkey. Results: Chi Square results indicate a p-value of .172 with a confidence value of 82.8% between credentialed versus non-credentialed clinical instructors. Clinical instructor experience 0-5 years versus 11-25 years comparison indicated a p-value of .287 with a confidence value of 71.3%. Discussion: There was no significant difference in how Utica College DPT students rated their clinical instructor based on credentialing, experience, highest degree earned, or other comparison data found. Trends in the responses indicate that those with 11-25 years of experience as a clinical instructor versus those with less experience were rated higher. Likewise those with experience as a clinician also received higher rating than those with less experience. Conclusion: Our hypothesis indicated that those with credentialed clinical instructor training would be rated higher than those without formal training. The results of our study were insignificant in concluding with a high confidence interval that these variations among clinical instructors were valid.