The last Lilly Online Conference recorded session for the 2021 conference was by Pamela Pologruto, Jennifer Jewell, and Laura Cruz from The Pennsylvania State University. I have watched now several talks by Laura Cruz and they range from professional development for instructors to in-depth educational studies. I was curious about the title of this session: “COVID Casualties? : Student Perception of Clinical Education During a Global Pandemic.” All three presenters are from different Penn State campuses. Pologruto is involved with the Physical Therapist Assistant program and explained the mix of clinical experiences and coursework. I also didn’t realize the number of national requirements for PT programs. Students in the spring of 2020 were given the option to defer their clinical experience which would affect graduation times. Some clinical experiences offered surgery observations and the range of experiences seems broad! For accreditation, clinical experience was required despite the pandemic. Thus, telehealth options were included. Also, due to the fear of spreading COVID and distancing efforts, the activity and PT clinics decreased. During the summer and fall of 2020, PT instructors were asked to participate in a study that included surveying their students. Jewell explained the difficulty of the decisions that PT students faced. Factors students considered extremely important included graduation (83.3%), professional experience (58.3%), personal/family responsibilities (52%)… and only a third reported personal safety. Meeting with program faculty and family were important considerations for students. Students perceived that they had learned during this experience (78.3%). The comparison of the concerns and perceptions of students completing clinical experience in the summer compared to the fall showed differences in safety concerns. Jewell also described finding differences between traditional versus non traditional students in their decision making process to decide when to do clinical experiences. Pologruto commented that most students demonstrated resilience and adaptability. Students relied on structured communication. Interestingly, students seemed content with their decisions! I am glad that this study helped instructors in the PT program learn that while the timing of clinical experiences was disrupted by the pandemic, students perceived they learned and valued communication with close peers and instructors. I imagine these feelings also helped them make the most of the experiences and promote learning, and it would be fascinating to study student reflections, if available. Also, I’m curious if those completing telehealth experiences had similar perceived learning than those doing distanced and masked in-person experiences both in the summer and fall.
