Student-led services in a hospital aged care temporary stay unit: Sustaining student placement capacity and physiotherapy service provisions

Through a collaborative university-hospital partnership, a student-led service model (SLS-model) was implemented to increase student placement capacity within a physiotherapy department of a 150 bed Sydney hospital. This study investigates the perceived barriers and enablers to increasing student placement capacity through student-led services (SLS) and the outcomes for hospital stakeholders and the university. Using mixed methods design, investigators interviewed nine clinical educators and surveyed thirty-four students over a ten month period to identify perceived barriers and enablers, clinical supervision models, experiences, support, and strategic innovations to increase student placement capacity. Content analysis of the interviews and quantitative visual analogue scores were statistically analyzed. Results demonstrate that student placement capacity increased by 212.5% at this hospital. Barriers and enablers included: student and clinical educator characteristics; placement support; workload and SLS-model context. Despite the perceived barriers challenging SLS implementation, enablers facilitated the SLS-model to increase healthcare service provision and increase student placement capacity for physiotherapy students at this hospital.