Physiotherapy Theory and Practice

An International Journal of Physical Therapy

ISSN: 0959-3985 (Print) 1532-5040 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/iptp20

Changes in direct patient care from physiotherapy

student to new graduate

Susan Stoikov, Mark Gooding, Kassie Shardlow, Lyndal Maxwell, Jane Butler
& Suzanne Kuys

To cite this article: Susan Stoikov, Mark Gooding, Kassie Shardlow, Lyndal Maxwell, Jane
Butler & Suzanne Kuys (2019): Changes in direct patient care from physiotherapy student to new
graduate, Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, DOI: 10.1080/09593985.2019.1628138

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09593985.2019.1628138

Published online: 11 Jun 2019.

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PHYSIOTHERAPY THEORY AND PRACTICE
https://doi.org/10.1080/09593985.2019.1628138

Changes in direct patient care from physiotherapy student to new graduate

Susan Stoikov, BPhty (Hons), MPH, PTa,b, Mark Gooding, BPhty (Hons), PTc, Kassie Shardlow, BPhty, PTa,
Lyndal Maxwell, PT, MAppSc, PhDb, Jane Butler, PT, PhDb, and Suzanne Kuys, PT, PhDb
a
Metro South Hospital and Health Service, Brisbane, Australia; bSchool of Physiotherapy, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, Australia;
c
Townsville Hospital and Health Service, Townsville, Australia

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Background: Clinical placements offer students an opportunity to provide direct patient care and Received 25 June 2018
are essential to develop safe and effective practitioners. It is unknown what changes in direct Revised 26 February 2019
patient care activities are required as students transition to graduate physiotherapists. Accepted 11 May 2019
Objective: To determine the change in direct patient care activity from physiotherapy student KEYWORDS
to new graduate. Physiotherapy; professional
Methods: Five hospitals provided clinical activity data from 412 physiotherapy students and 50 education; clinical
new graduate physiotherapists working in four physiotherapy clinical areas. competence; professional
Main Outcome Measures: Percentage of day spent in direct patient care, average occasions of competence; quantitative
service (OOS) per day and average length of one OOS (LOOS) for physiotherapy students and new evaluation
graduates.
Results: Students spent less time during their day providing direct patient care (24%, 95%
confidence interval (CI) 19 to 29), performed fewer OOS (4.4, 95%CI 4.0 to 4.8) and had longer
LOOS (18 min, 95%CI 13 to 23) compared to new graduates. This was consistent across all clinical
areas.
Conclusions: Physiotherapy student caseload is half that of a new graduate physiotherapist, with
students taking longer to complete an OOS. Given this disparity in workload, active stakeholder
engagement is essential to implement strategies that support and optimize the transition from
student to graduate.

Introduction feel more prepared as beginning practitioners

(Brockwell, Wielandt, and Clark, 2009; Burford,
Clinical placements are a fundamental component of
Whittle, and Vance, 2014). Thus, clinical placements
university physiotherapy programs, supporting stu-
play an essential role in preparing students to transition
dents to transform theory into practice within a real-
into the profession while under the supervision and
world environment (Koontz, Mallory, Burns, and
guidance of physiotherapy clinical educators.
Chapman, 2010). Clinical placements offer students
The transition from student to new graduate is often
opportunities to practice professional skills, develop
challenging (Walker and Costa, 2017) with health pro-
independent clinical reasoning, socialize into the pro-
fessional new graduates only feeling moderately pre-
fession (Bartlett, Lucy, Bisbee, and Conti-Becker, 2009;
pared for this transition (Burford, Whittle, and Vance,
Lindquist et al., 2006) and work within the multidisci-
2014; Gray et al., 2012; Talberg and Scott, 2014).
plinary team (Dudouloz, Savard, Burnett, and Guitard,
Students undertaking clinical placements are engaged
2010). Supervision on physiotherapy clinical place-
in supervised practice, where they have the opportunity
ments involves a physiotherapist either directly obser-
to integrate theory into practice, build knowledge and
ving patient care or being available for student support
skills, and gain an understanding of the clinical envir-
(Health Workforce Australia, 2011). Physiotherapy
onment through managing a patient caseload (Health
programs must demonstrate that students receive
Workforce Australia, 2011). It is likely that students
a breadth and depth of experience in clinical areas
would complete activities such as self-directed learning,
and settings across the lifespan (Australian
work-shadowing and receive feedback from the clinical
Physiotherapy Council, 2017). Research suggests that
educator in addition to direct patient care (Burgess and
students who undertake more ‘hands on’ experience
Mellis, 2015; Murad et al., 2010). In the first year of

CONTACT Susan Stoikov Susan.Stoikov@health.qld.gov.au Physiotherapy, Metro South Hospital and Health Service, 199 Ipswich Road,
Woolloongabba, Brisbane 4120, Australia
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/iptp.
© 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2 S. STOIKOV ET AL.
clinical practice, new graduate health professionals
must transition from supervised practice to being an
independent clinician who functions competently and
safely in a clinical environment (Black et al., 2010) able
to meet the demands of a normal workload following
orientation and a settling in period (Duchscher, 2009).
During this transition, knowledge and skills are being
consolidated but new graduate health professionals are
also expected to contribute to the health service by
providing efficient and effective healthcare. Thus, it is
reasonable to suggest there will be a difference in work-
load expectations, including direct patient care activity,
between students and new graduates.
New graduates have described challenges in their
first year of practice including managing workload,
dealing with conflict and time management (Black
et al., 2010; Moriarty, Manthorpe, Stevens, and
Hussein, 2011). Employers reported that new gradu-
ates’ clinical skills were generally adequate, however
identified that improvements were required in work-
load and risk management (Moriarty, Manthorpe,
Stevens, and Hussein, 2011). Thus, workload manage-
ment appears to be a common issue upon graduation
for both new graduates and employers, however little is
known about the change required during the transition
from physiotherapy student to new graduate in clinical
settings. Ascertaining the change in caseload from stu-
dent to new graduate however may assist in supporting
and optimizing the transition from physiotherapy stu-
dent to workforce. Therefore, the primary aim of this
study was to determine the change in direct patient care
as quantified by occasions of service and length of
occasions of service that occurs from physiotherapy
student to new graduate.
Methods
Study design
A retrospective observational study was conducted.
Ethical approval was received from Metro South
Human Research and Ethics Committee and the
Australian Catholic University provided ethical
approval for this research (HREC/15/QPAH/133 and
2016-152R, respectively)
Participants
Five Queensland Public Health Sector hospitals partici-
pated in this study and were purposely selected based
on location (i.e. a mix of metropolitan and regional
hospitals); the provision of a large volume of clinical
placements; and employing three or more new
graduates. Three hospitals were Principal Referral hos-
pitals, while two were defined as Public Acute Group
A hospitals (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare,
2015). These hospitals were deemed likely representa-
tive of clinical placements and new graduate experi-
ences across the Queensland Public Health Sector.
Direct patient care data from all five hospitals were
obtained for physiotherapy students and new graduates
working in four clinical areas: cardiorespiratory, mus-
culoskeletal, neurorehabilitation and orthopaedics. All
student data were generated by physiotherapy students
in their final 12 to 18 months of physiotherapy study
during clinical placement to gain experience in the
direct care and management of patients. The student
sample included data generated by students from all six
universities offering physiotherapy programs in
Queensland. Due to the variability in university pro-
gram structures, student data represented a range of
clinical placement experience (ranging from first to
final clinical placement). A new graduate was defined
as any physiotherapist who had less than one year of
clinical practice experience as an independent clinician.
Procedures
Physiotherapy student direct patient care activity data
were collected for all nine 5-week clinical placement
blocks in 2016. The majority of Australian physiother-
apy student clinical placements occur across nine con-
secutive five-week blocks. Only data from weeks 4 and
5 of each placement, the final two weeks of the five-
week clinical placement were analyzed in this study as
during these weeks students have reached their peak
number of occasions of service per day (Stoikov,
Shardlow, Gooding, and Kuys, 2018). The Queensland
Physiotherapy Placement Collaborative provided the
total number of clinical placements within the
Queensland Public Health Sector and in the four clin-
ical areas in this study.
Each hospital provided at least five weeks of de-
identified new graduate physiotherapist clinical care
activity data that best represented normal clinical activ-
ity within each clinical area. The same new graduate’s
clinical activity data may have been provided across
a number of clinical areas due to new graduates rotat-
ing through multiple clinical areas during the study
period. No data were obtained for a new graduate’s
first week in each new clinical area or for weekend
and after-hours work.
Clinical activity data are entered as part of routine
clinical practice by students and physiotherapists.
Clinical educators and health service managers routi-
nely check for accuracy of clinical activity data. All

physiotherapy students and new graduates received
training on the rules and data entry requirements of
clinical activity data at the commencement of each
clinical placement or new clinical area. This study was
approved by institutional human research and ethics
committees with hospitals providing approval for the
use of their clinical activity data.
Outcome measures
Clinical activity of physiotherapists and students is for-
mally collected and recorded based on the Australian
Health Activity Hierarchy classification system
(National Allied Health Casemix Committee, 2001).
Physiotherapists are required to account for all activ-
ities in their work day including direct and non-direct
patient care activity. Direct patient care activity
includes the number of occasions of service (OOS)
and length of one OOS (LOOS) in minutes (National
Allied Health Casemix Committee, 2001). Non-direct
patient care activities include activities such as attend-
ing training and engaging in research. In contrast,
students only collect direct patient care activity.
The outcome measures of interest included per-
centage of daily time spent in direct patient care,
average OOS per day and average LOOS. Any inter-
vention provided to a patient to alter their health
outcomes is considered an OOS whereas LOOS refers
to the time in minutes taken to complete one OOS
(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2012).
For student data, percentage of daily direct patient
care was determined by summing all LOOS in weeks
4 and 5 and dividing this by the total minutes
worked in these weeks (Σ LOOS Weeks 4 & 5/total
minutes worked in weeks 4 and 5). Student average
OOS per day was determined by obtaining the total
OOS over weeks 4 and 5 divided by the total number
of days the student attended clinical placement in
those two weeks (Σ OOS in weeks 4 and 5/total
days worked in weeks 4 and 5). A student day was
included if any OOS was recorded. Student average
LOOS was determined by obtaining the total LOOS
time (minutes) in weeks 4 and 5, divided by the total
number of OOS students provided in those two
weeks (Σ LOOS in weeks 4 and 5/total number of
OOS in weeks 4 and 5).
For new graduate data, percentage of daily direct
patient care was determined by summing all LOOS
time (minutes) and dividing this by the total time (in
minutes) worked (Σ all LOOS/total time worked).
New graduate average OOS per day was determined
by dividing the total OOS by the number of days the
new graduate engaged in clinical activities (Σ OOS/
PHYSIOTHERAPY THEORY AND PRACTICE 3
number of days new graduates were engaged in clin-
ical activities). A day was counted for a new graduate
if the total daily time was in the range of 270–640
min even if the OOS was zero. This range was
deemed sufficient to ensure that adequate clinical
activity data would be recorded for each day for
a new graduate and to minimize the risk of inaccu-
rate data entry. New graduate average LOOS was
determined by obtaining the total LOOS time (min),
divided by the total number of OOS new graduates
provided (Σ LOOS/total OOS). For both students and
new graduates, LOOS data were excluded if an OOS
exceeded 210 min as it would be unreasonable to
treat a patient for greater than 210 min and likely
to be a recording error.
Analysis
Descriptive statistics were completed for all variables
for physiotherapy students and new graduates. Normal
distribution was determined by reviewing the skewness
and kurtosis and completing a Shapiro-Wilk normality
test. Independent t-tests were used to compare phy-
siotherapy student and new graduate percentage daily
direct patient care, average OOS per day and average
LOOS. Separate t-tests were conducted for each clinical
area as well as all clinical areas combined. Analyses
were conducted with SPSS 23, and significance was
set at p < .05.
Results
Data were collected from 412 student clinical place-
ments; 136 cardiorespiratory, 105 musculoskeletal, 100
neurorehabilitation and 71 orthopedic placements.
These data represented 31.5% of total Queensland
Public Health Sector placements provided in 2016 and
more specifically 42% of cardiorespiratory, 43% of mus-
culoskeletal, 40% of neurorehabilitation, and 40% of
orthopedic clinical placements. For student data, no
OOS data were removed and 0.1% of data were
removed from LOOS analysis for exceeding 210 min.
Student data were normally distributed.
Across the five hospitals, 445 weeks of new grad-
uate data were collected in the four clinical areas;
186 weeks in cardiorespiratory, 93 weeks in muscu-
loskeletal, 91 weeks in neurorehabilitation and 75
weeks in orthopedics. Of this, 4.6% of OOS and
LOOS data were removed as the total time of direct
and non-direct care activity was outside the range of
270–640 min. New graduate data were normally
distributed.
4 S. STOIKOV ET AL.

Students performed less direct patient care activity Discussion

compared to new graduate physiotherapists. The com-
The amount and type of direct patient care changes
parison between student and new graduate percentage
from physiotherapy student to new graduate phy-
of direct patient care was significant (p < .001) when all
siotherapist. Physiotherapy students spend approxi-
clinical areas were combined and in each clinical area
mately 55% of their day providing direct patient care
(Figure 1). Table 1 describes the average percentage
compared with 80% as a new graduate physiotherapist.
direct patient care, OOS and LOOS along with the
In the four clinical areas of cardiorespiratory, muscu-
mean difference between physiotherapy students and
loskeletal, neurorehabilitation and orthopedics, phy-
new graduates.
siotherapy students completed approximately half the
A significant difference was found between the OOS
OOS compared to new graduates and took on average
per day completed by students and new graduates when
30% longer to complete an OOS. The comparatively
all clinical areas were combined and in each individual
lower direct patient care as a physiotherapy student has
clinical area (p < .001). In three of the four clinical areas,
implications for the transition to a new graduate.
students provided approximately half the OOS per day
In all clinical areas, physiotherapy students spent
compared to a new graduate physiotherapist (Figure 2).
just over half their day providing direct patient care
New graduates LOOS was less than students when
activity. This proportion of time is similar to occupa-
all clinical areas were combined and for each indivi-
tional therapy students who spent approximately 4.5
dual clinical area (p < .001; Figure 2). Students took
h in a working day in direct patient care activities
between 30% and 34% longer to complete an OOS in
during 10–14-week clinical placements (Rodger et al.,
cardiorespiratory, neurorehabilitation and orthopedics
2011). These findings indicate that students spend
compared to a new graduate, and 21% longer in
nearly half of their clinical placement time engaged in
musculoskeletal (Figure 2).
activities other than direct patient care. Currently, it is

Figure 1. Average percentage of daily time physiotherapy students and new graduate physiotherapists spent in direct patient care.

Table 1. Mean (SD) percent (%) direct patient care, occasions of service (OOS) per day and length of occasion of service (LOOS) of
physiotherapy students and new graduates and mean difference (95% confidence interval (CI)) comparing physiotherapy students
and new graduates across all clinical areas combined and in each clinical area.
Between group differences
% Direct patient care OOS per day LOOS (minutes) New graduate compared to Student
Mean, (SD) Mean, (SD) Mean, (SD) Average, 95% CI
New New New % Direct Patient
Student Graduate Student graduate Student graduate care OOS per day LOOS (minutes)
All clinical areas 56 (15) 80 (10) 4.4 (1.2) 8.8 (1.9) 60 (18) 42 (7) 24* (19 to 29) 4.4* (4.0 to 4.8) 18* (13 to 23)
combined
Cardiorespiratory 58 (14) 82 (8) 4.7 (1.1) 10.1 (2.0) 56 (14) 37 (8) 24* (20 to 29) 5.5* (4.9 to 6.1) 19* (12 to 26)
Musculoskeletal 52 (14) 74 (12) 4.3 (1.0) 7.5 (1.5) 57 (17) 45 (4) 23* (15 to 31) 3.3* (2.6 to 3.9) 12* (8 to 15)
Neurorehabilitation 57 (15) 82 (9) 4.1 (1.3) 8.1 (1.3) 67 (18) 47 (7) 26* (19 to 32) 4.0* (3.2 to 4.8) 20* (15 to 26)
Orthopaedics 58 (17) 81 (11) 4.6 (1.4) 8.8 (1.4) 60 (21) 41 (4) 23* (13 to 32) 4.3* (3.3 to 5.2) 20* (14 to 25)
* p < 0.001.
 PHYSIOTHERAPY THEORY AND PRACTICE 5

Orthopaedics

Neurorehabilitation

Musculoskeletal

Cardiorespiratory

All clinical areas

combined

Figure 2. Average number of occasions of service per day and length of occasion of service completed by physiotherapy students
and new graduates across all clinical areas combined and in each clinical area.

unclear what other types of learning experiences stu-
dents engage in during clinical placements when not
involved in direct patient care as this is not typically
recorded. Thus, the proportion of time students should
spend in direct patient care versus other types of learn-
ing experiences when on clinical placement, and the
type and value of these experiences is unclear and
warrants further investigation.
Learning activities other than direct patient care may
support students to develop the necessary skills
required of a physiotherapist and assist in explaining
the discrepancy between student and new graduate
direct patient care. Such activities may include ‘non-
hands on’ learning experiences that are integral to the
student becoming an independent, professional clini-
cian such as work-shadowing, receiving feedback
(Rodger et al., 2011), and participating in self-directed
and reflective learning. Students work-shadowing clin-
icians during clinical placements is an effective strategy
to promote inter-professional practice, teamwork and
socialization into the profession (Anderson and
Thorpe, 2010; Wright, Hawkes, Baker, and Lindqvist,
2012) and is appreciated by students (Sevenhuysen
et al., 2015). Similarly, students place a high regard on
feedback, which is important for student learning, self-
esteem and motivation for improvement (Clynes and
Raftery, 2008). Self-directed learning and reflection are
also essential components of learning (Murad et al.,
2010) and may aid in supporting the development of
professional characteristics important for health-care
professionals (Donaghy and Morss, 2007). These activ-
ities are described in the Physiotherapy Practice
Thresholds and are key competencies required for
initial and continuing registration as a physiotherapist
in Australia and New Zealand (Physiotherapy Board of
Australia and Physiotherapy Board of New Zealand,
2015) and are therefore important skills for students
to practice in a clinical environment. While the other
activities that students engage in during clinical place-
ments are considered valuable, both students and clin-
ical educators report valuing direct patient care
experience as being key to a good clinical placement
experience (Sevenhuysen et al., 2015).
Physiotherapy students undertake less OOS and take
longer to complete an OOS than new graduate phy-
siotherapists. Therefore as students transition to the
workforce, OOS will need to increase and LOOS reduce
in order to meet the workload of a new graduate
physiotherapist. Interestingly, in musculoskeletal, the
adjustments required (increased OOS, reduced LOOS)
to meet the new graduate workload is less than other
clinical areas. It may be that the scheduling of appoint-
ments in musculoskeletal areas, with pre-determined
appointment times, is a contributing factor to the lesser
adjustments required. Previous research has indicated
that physiotherapy student LOOS reduces over
a 5-week clinical placement by approximately 20–25
min with the most marked reduction in LOOS in the
first 3 weeks (Stoikov, Shardlow, Gooding, and Kuys,
2018), likely due to increasing clinical experience. It is
anticipated that students would continue to reduce the
LOOS upon entering the profession as their clinical
experience grows. A reduction in LOOS would seem
reasonable as new graduates are accountable for their
own practice (Crosbie et al., 2002); no longer needing
direct supervision from another physiotherapist for
routine, day-to-day clinical practice. Additionally, new
graduates do not require permission to proceed with
many tasks, something that is often required of stu-
dents, thus inflating student LOOS. A reduction in
LOOS alone however may still be insufficient to reach
the required new graduate workload in all clinical areas.
The findings of this research suggest as students
transition to new graduate physiotherapists, a 50%
increase in OOS per day is required. Managing this
increase in workload is a key concern raised by new
6 S. STOIKOV ET AL.
graduates (Gray et al., 2012; Moriarty, Manthorpe,
Stevens, and Hussein, 2011). New graduate phy-
siotherapists reported feeling overwhelmed and
exhausted with their new roles (Miller, Soloman,
Giacomini, and Abelson, 2005). Similar feelings have
been reported by pharmacy interns who felt unpre-
pared for the workload required upon graduation
(Mak, March, Clark, and Gilbert, 2013). Employers of
physiotherapy new graduates also describe concerns
about the ability of new graduates to work autono-
mously and cope with the pressures of clinical work
(Barnitt and Salmond, 2000). Nursing and medical
supervisors identify that managing a busy workload is
of significant stress to the new graduate and have
reported new graduates are often ill-prepared to man-
age the multiple demands, especially workload, in the
busy health environment (Hickey, 2009; Walker and
Costa, 2017). This suggests that students are unaware
and even unprepared for the demands of a new grad-
uate clinical workload, the associated responsibility that
brings, and are at increased risk of excessive stress and
burnout as a new graduate (Barnitt and Salmond, 2000;
Miller, Soloman, Giacomini, and Abelson, 2005).
This current study is the first to quantify the differ-
ences in direct patient care activities and the gap
between students and new graduate physiotherapists.
It is clear that the increased workload demands and
stress for new graduates upon entering the workforce
will pose challenges for health services and employers
as they need to provide adequate support to new grad-
uates while ensuring service delivery demands are met.
Health services, employers, clinical placement provi-
ders, and university stakeholders all have a role to
play to assist students’ preparedness for professional
practice during the transition from student to new
graduate. High levels of stress are commonly experi-
enced by students and new graduates (Miller, Soloman,
Giacomini, and Abelson, 2005) therefore all stake-
holders need to play a role in identifying strategies to
manage stress, improve resilience (Delany et al., 2015),
and promote effective learning practices to support the
transition into the profession.
Clinical placement providers need to be mindful of
the caseload offered to students ensuring that it is
sufficient in volume (Miller, Soloman, Giacomini, and
Abelson, 2005) and complexity (Newton, Billett, Jolly,
and Ockerby, 2009) to promote graduates who can,
with a degree of autonomy, manage the demands of
the busy clinical environment. Consideration should be
given to current student caseload capacity which may
reflect student capability, clinical educator preferences
or hospital characteristics. There are a number of stra-
tegies that may warrant investigation to provide
students with opportunities for a larger caseload. Peer-
assisted learning, whereby one student assists another
student to provide direct patient care, could increase
exposure to direct patient care with the additional
benefits of reduced educator burden and minimization
of student downtime (Sevenhuysen, Haines, Kiegaldie,
and Molloy, 2016). Other strategies may include longer
clinical placements or consideration of physiotherapy
internships (Chipchase, Blackstock, Patman, and
Barnett-Harris, 2018; Crosbie et al., 2002). Such strate-
gies would require considerable deliberation given the
current challenge of sourcing physiotherapy clinical
placements (Rodger et al., 2008; Taylor, Angel, Yanga,
and Dickson, 2017). Importantly though, health ser-
vices and other employers must be cognizant that cur-
rent student experiences may mean that new graduates
require additional support to manage their workload
and should have resources in place to support their
transition into professional practice (Moores and
Fitzgerald, 2017). Moving from student to new gradu-
ate physiotherapist poses challenges, however cultivat-
ing collaborative stakeholder partnerships that
acknowledge the dual responsibility for both universi-
ties and health-care providers, in developing and sup-
porting the student transition into the profession; may
result in improved experiences for the student, new
graduate, health service and employers.
Limitations
While this study provides valuable information relating
to the change in direct patient care, OOS and LOOS of
physiotherapy students to new graduates, there are
some limitations that need to be acknowledged. This
study was conducted in metropolitan and regional
Queensland public hospitals and therefore may not
represent the caseload in other clinical settings.
However, nearly 80% of all physiotherapy clinical pla-
cements in Australia are conducted in the public health
sector in metropolitan and regional areas (Health
Workforce Australia, 2013). Therefore, the findings
from the current study are likely to be relevant to
both private and public sector employers as the results
provide a clear picture of the amount of direct patient
care that occurs during clinical placements. However,
this study should be replicated in private settings to
provide the wider profession with valuable information
regarding student clinical placements.
The other activities that students engaged in during
clinical placements were not able to be described.
Students on clinical placements only record direct
patient care activity or at least that is the case in
Australia. Future studies could investigate how students

spend the remaining part of their work day to gauge the
value and time spent in activities other than direct
patient care. Qualitative research that aims to deter-
mine how students transition to new graduates and
those factors that influence the transition may also be
of benefit to the profession.
Conclusion
Clinical placements are designed to provide students
with experience of the practicalities of physiotherapy
practice. However, the data from this study demon-
strates that students only experience approximately
50% of the direct patient care required of a new grad-
uate physiotherapist. The other learning activities stu-
dents participate in during clinical placements, the
value of these, and the time that should be allocated
to these to facilitate the transition to new graduate are
unclear and warrant further investigation. Given the
disparity in direct patient care between student and
new graduate, active stakeholder engagement is essen-
tial to support and optimize this aspect of the student
transition into the profession.
Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge the support provided by Metro
South Hospital and Health Service, Metro North Hospital
and Health Service, Townsville Hospital and Health Service,
Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service and the
Australian Catholic University in the conduct of this
research. We also wish to acknowledge members of the
Physiotherapy Student Contribution to Physiotherapy
Services within Queensland Health Steering Committee.
Declaration of Interest
The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Funding
This work was supported by the Directors of Physiotherapy
Services Queensland, Clinical Education and Training
Initiative Grant.
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