Split 3:2 Clinical/Research Project

Organisation(s)

Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust

BCP Council

Learning Disabilities Physio

We are the learning disability physios within the Learning Disability Service (pan-Dorset). We regularly support physiotherapy undergrad students on placement throughout the year, from Bournemouth University, Winchester University and AECC University College. In BCP, we are an integrated health and social care service; we have 11 physios in the service.

Summary of placement

We supported a split 3:2 placement for two Bournemouth University physio undergrad students, where three days were spent working clinically in our LD physio team (one east, one west); with particular aims of gaining knowledge, experience, and clinical assessment and treatment skills in the areas of postural management, asymmetric body shapes, tone management, and contractures. The other two days a week were spent at BU, carrying out a literature review on the topic of contracture management, to support a PhD student project which Dorset HealthCare was already supporting. BU provided all the skills and guidance relating to their research project/literature review, and these two days were kept very separate from their clinical days. Both students fed back that they’d found the split research placement incredibly helpful. They felt the clinical experience, knowledge, and skills they developed with us, tied in incredibly well with the articles they were critiquing on their research days

Benefits

  • Development of student clinical skills, which facilitated development of clinical research skills

  • Reduced burden on the clinical team, as they had two days a week to catch up on elements of their work which would be less relevant for students

Challenges

  • We haven’t been able to recreate this placement, as without a PhD project to support, the unis haven’t been able to dedicate time to supporting the research element.

Advice you’d give to others

  • Really have a think about what research/literature searching would be appropriate for your clinical area, as well as what would be achievable within the placement timeframe

  • This literature search had already been completed, so the students were only expected to complete a critique of the articles which had already been identified. They also gained experience of transcription