A profile of physiotherapy clinical education.

The purpose of the study was to examine clinical education placement data to generate a profile of providers and examine the students' exposure to health care and educational factors during clinical education. A retrospective audit of clinical placement rosters was undertaken for 3 calendar years (2001-2003). Data were analysed overall and by clinical school for sites and placements, public or private sector and type of placement. Over the 3-year period, 209 sites provided 3475 clinical placements, with the number of placements increasing from 1066 placements in 2001 to 1133 in 2002 and to 1276 in 2003. Overall, 72.2% of placements were located in metropolitan Sydney. The proportion from regional providers increased over the 3 years from 11.8% to 15.1%. Overall 85.8% of placements were delivered by public providers. The profile indicated that a considerable number of clinical sites were utilised with an emphasis on large public hospitals. The challenge for curriculum development is to reduce the clinical education demands on current providers while ensuring graduates meet entry-level standards of physiotherapy.