The influence of a case based wiki on physiotherapy students’ clinical reasoning development

Abstract

Clinical reasoning is a vital skill for physiotherapy professional practice and can be thought of as the thinking and decision making processes used in clinical practice. Learning experiences in traditional pre-registration physiotherapy courses may neglect the development of clinical reasoning and thus the link between theory and practice where clinical reasoning is embedded into the curriculum within other subjects. A new case based, cardiorespiratory, technology enhanced learning module was introduced to second year BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy students on a traditional course, with the aim of improving the link between theory and practice and developing clinical reasoning. Students were asked to participate in wikis in small groups to develop problems and treatment plans for six patient cases. The introduction of a wiki allowed students to practise skills required for clinical reasoning, such as evaluation and making treatment decisions but it also changed the underlying pedagogy for the new module to a constructivist approach rather than a behaviourist approach. It was unclear how this would influence the students’ learning and their development of clinical reasoning. This research sought to develop an understanding of these issues.

Date of Award	Mar 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Brighton
Supervisor	Carol Robinson (Supervisor)