Use of a Human Patient Simulator to Improve Physiotherapy Cardiorespiratory Clinical Skills in Undergraduate Physiotherapy Students: A Randomised Controlled Trial

Abstract

To investigate whether additional training with a human patient simulator improves cardiorespiratory physiotherapy practice in undergraduate physiotherapy students. Method: A randomised controlled trial was undertaken with 50 third year physiotherapy students from James Cook University, Queensland Australia. Participants in the intervention group underwent two four hour sessions of patient simulator training in addition to their normal cardiorespiratory physiotherapy training prior to attending clinical placements. Participants in both the intervention and control groups were assessed weekly for six weeks on their clinical ability whilst on clinical placement. Results: Mann-Whitney was used to compare the training group with the control group. No significant difference was found between groups.Conclusion: This study indicates that simulation, as undertaken in this manner, does not improve clinical ability in cardiorespiratory physiotherapy. Further studies are needed to determine if more training time is required, or whether simulation must be fully integrated into the curriculum.