The Impact of simulation-based learning on the Knowledge, Attitude and Performance of physiotherapy students on practice placement

Abstract Background Practice placement is a crucial part of pre-registration physiotherapy education worldwide. However, educators face challenges in finding practice sites for students to undertake placement. The use of simulation-based learning has the potential to replace some traditional placement thereby increasing placement capacity, but the benefits have not been fully explored. This study aims to assess how a simulation-based placement impacts students' knowledge, attitude, and performance when they undertake practice placements with external providers.Methods This study utilised an exploratory qualitative research design using a semi-structured interview to collect data from Year 2 students of a 2-year MSc pre-registration physiotherapy programme in the UK. To be eligible to be included in the study students must have participated in the 4-week simulation placement and have completed all their practice placements with external providers. All the interviews were conducted virtually in a 1:1 setting and recorded. The interviews lasted an average of 45 minutes. An inductive thematic analysis based on Braun and Clarke’s approach was utilised in this study.Results 12 students consented to participate in this study. The 56 codes generated from the data were categorised into 5 themes; (1) Working together, (2) Working with Service Users, (3) Professionalism, (4) Profession-specific practical skills and (5) Generic practical skills. Participants expressed unanimously, a positive view on working in groups and they consider that engaging with service users acting as patients enhanced the authenticity of the simulation placement. Subjective and objective assessments were considered important profession-specific skills gained during the simulation. Despite the benefits derived from the simulation placement, some participants felt that the learning experience would have been enriched by periodically changing the groups they were working in and having the opportunity for more 1:1 feedback throughout the four weeks.Conclusions Simulation-based learning offers a transformative educational experience for physiotherapy students and has the potential to better prepare students for successful integration into the dynamic healthcare environment. To enhance and improve the authenticity of this type of placement our recommendations include recruiting more service users, incorporating and encouraging more intervention-based elements as well as increasing the contact time of the practice educators and students.