TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of the changing health care environment on fieldwork education
T2 - Perceptions of occupational therapy educators
AU - Casares, Glenda S.
AU - Bradley, Kathy P.
AU - Jaffe, Lynn E.
AU - Lee, Gregory P.
PY - 2003/12/1
Y1 - 2003/12/1
N2 - To investigate how clinical fieldwork educators and academic fieldwork coordinators view the impact of the changing health care environment on student fieldwork education, current practice, and future of the profession, a 48-item questionnaire assessing the influence of recent changes in the health care system on fieldwork education was sent to 125 occupational therapy fieldwork educators and coordinators (response rate 62.4%). Differences between fieldwork educators and coordinators were analyzed statistically using nonparametric methods. α level was set at p < 0.01 for all statistical comparisons. Fieldwork educators and coordinators agreed productivity expectations, number of hours worked, and time spent in documentation have increased, while job security, time for continuing education, and quality of patient care under the current reimbursement system have decreased, but diverged on several other issues. Fieldwork educators believed reimbursement issues did not affect their ability to accept fieldwork students, whereas academic coordinators believed declining reimbursement had negatively affected fieldwork educators' ability to accept students. Factors thought to facilitate the fieldwork shortage included cost reductions, changes in reimbursement, and increased productivity demands on clinicians.
AB - To investigate how clinical fieldwork educators and academic fieldwork coordinators view the impact of the changing health care environment on student fieldwork education, current practice, and future of the profession, a 48-item questionnaire assessing the influence of recent changes in the health care system on fieldwork education was sent to 125 occupational therapy fieldwork educators and coordinators (response rate 62.4%). Differences between fieldwork educators and coordinators were analyzed statistically using nonparametric methods. α level was set at p < 0.01 for all statistical comparisons. Fieldwork educators and coordinators agreed productivity expectations, number of hours worked, and time spent in documentation have increased, while job security, time for continuing education, and quality of patient care under the current reimbursement system have decreased, but diverged on several other issues. Fieldwork educators believed reimbursement issues did not affect their ability to accept fieldwork students, whereas academic coordinators believed declining reimbursement had negatively affected fieldwork educators' ability to accept students. Factors thought to facilitate the fieldwork shortage included cost reductions, changes in reimbursement, and increased productivity demands on clinicians.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=1442353007&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=1442353007&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Review article
C2 - 14714597
AN - SCOPUS:1442353007
SN - 0090-7421
VL - 32
SP - 246
EP - 251
JO - Journal of Allied Health
JF - Journal of Allied Health
IS - 4
ER -