2016-2017 Faculty Research Grant
Caryn Pierce and William Scott (Physical Therapy)
Reporting and Barriers to Reporting among Physical Therapy Student Interns before and after an Applied Ethics Course
The role of the physical therapist has changed significantly since the advent of direct access in all 50 of the United States. With this change comes the responsibility of clinicians to recognize ethical and legal violations that can occur within our profession. Physical Therapy education must lay the foundation and teach physical therapy students to make sound legal and ethical decisions within their scope of practice, and meet these challenges in an ever changing health care environment.
Ethical distress, resulting from moral silence on ethical issues, is the leading cause of burnout among healthcare providers. Previous research has shown that students may lack the ability to identify and address ethical and legal violations encountered in the clinic while on internships. If ethical and legal volations are identified, research has shown that there are many barriers that prevent students from reporting these violations. A survey of “Physical Therapist Student Experiences with Ethical and Legal Violations during Clinical Rotations: Reporting and Barriers to Reporting” was developed, validated, and used in descriptive research by Lowe and Gabard 2014. We have obtained a copy of this survey from the authors and would like to administer it to students before and after an applied ethics course in order to look at the effect of the education we provide and to inform development of future educational experiences for students. Our course is conveniently situated between two sets of internships within the final year of our program. This may serve as an example for other physical therapy programs.