Exploring student fitness to practise in physiotherapy – Strategies from the coalface

Health professionals have high rates of burnout. Their work satisfaction is also affected by supervising students with fitness to practise (FTP) issues. FTP issues include those regarding clinical competence, professionalism and physical and/or mental health. Strategies to support health professional clinical educators are warranted but have not yet been documented. This project investigated insights into strategies that support the supervision of students with FTP issues. Participants included approximately 45 attendees at the Personally Arranged Learning Session (PeArL) at the Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) Conference Melbourne, October 2013 and approximately 20 attendees at the Clinical Education Managers Australia and New Zealand (CEMANZ) meeting in April 2015. Clinical educators discussed peer-assisted learning and buddy systems to support clinical educators and students. There was a preference indicated for feed-forward mechanisms to support student learning needs. Educators valued faculty staff as important supports particularly when supervising students with mental health concerns. Mentoring for clinical educators was also encouraged to help support staff new to the educator role. The importance of teamwork and regular breaks from clinical education were discussed. Clinical education managers discussed the inherent requirements of physiotherapy courses including strategies to flag and support students with FTP issues. Strategies to support clinical educators when supervising students with FTP issues were described.