What clinical competencies do we expect from physiotherapy students at the University of the Western Cape?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify the clinical competencies that are expected of physiotherapy students at the University of the Western Cape. A list of ten categories of clinical competencies was first compiled from the literature and administered to 2 lecturers, 5 clinical supervisors and 10 final year students, to elicit their perspectives of expected clinical competencies. Based on the outcome of this, a list of eight categories of competencies was administered to 7 lecturers, 50 clinical supervisors and 31 final year students. Participants were requested to rank the competencies in order of what was considered to be essential. The analysis of 79 responses revealed similarities among lecturers, clinical supervisors and students in the ranking of three competencies, but disparities in the ranking of five competencies. Reasons for the disparities, and the impact of the disparities on students are discussed. Further research is recommended to identify the reasons for the disparities.