Impact of physical therapy students on patient service delivery and professional staff time

The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the productivity of physical therapy students during their clinical placements at the University of Alberta Hospitals and to assess the impact of supervision on professional staff time. Subjects were 29 professionals and 51 students. Data related to staff supervision time and to direct patient care time were obtained from the Workload Measurement System computer database. Average patient-related service time for staff while supervising a student was compared with average patient-related service time for the same staff while not supervising a student across nine service areas. Average hours per day of student direct care were compared with average hours per day of therapists' supervision time across the same nine service areas. Results indicated that average patient-related service time for staff supervising a student decreased significantly during periods of student supervision, and that physical therapy students' average amount of direct care was significantly greater than the average amount of therapists' supervision time. There was preliminary evidence of a positive net effect of clinical placements on service delivery.