Theme Healthcare - Physiotherapy in Primary Care, 19.5 credits

To be eligible for the course Theme health care - Physical therapy in out-patient care, all courses in semester 1 - to semester 3 (90 credits) should be passed. In semester 4, should Theme health care - Medical subjects 2 (7.5 credits), Theme Intervention - Physical therapy 4 (4.5 credits), and Theme health care - Physical therapy for children and older (10.5 credits) be passed.

Students who fail a clinical placement (or equivalent) as a result of demonstrating such a serious lack of knowledge, skills or attitude that patient safety or the patients' confidence in medical care is at risk, will only be qualified for a new clinical placement once the individual action plan has been carried out.

The course aims for the student to develop independence in patient care and broadened professional competence by integrating and apply an evidence-based working method when encountering patients and in interprofessional cooperation in an open care context.

Learning outcomes
Upon completion of the course, students should be able to:

• Plan, carry out, and evaluate physiotherapeutic interventions based on the principles of evidence-based work with respect to health and ill-health and working environment for individuals and groups.
• Manage different forms of complex pain conditions in treatment, examination, and interventions of patients with different disabilities.
• Apply clinical reasoning to argue for clinical decisions from a physiotherapeutic perspective.
• Apply principles of behavioral medicine to support individuals for the self-care of health with regard to primary and secondary preventive measures.
• Working based on professional ethics and professional attitude in patient/client or relatives encounters and others that are part of the interprofessional team to achieve a functioning interplay/cooperation.
• Self-critically identifies the need for continuing professional development and reflects on own attitude and own values in relation to completed work.

The course consists of 2 parts:

• Physiotherapeutic examination, assessment, and treatment in disabilities within the musculoskeletal system, within mental health, and within different types of pain conditions.
• Preparation prior to clinical training with a focus on deepening knowledge and independent practice in out-patient care.
• Clinical reasoning.
• Risk analysis and interventions that intend to improve the working environment.
• Health consultation.

• Clinical training with a focus on developing independence in physiotherapeutic examination assessment, treatment in out-patient care.
• Integrate and apply physiotherapeutic knowledge, skills, and professional ethical principles in meeting with patients in out-patient care and cooperation with the interprofessional team and other actors relevant for the patient's rehabilitation

The education during the course is mostly located to open care context with patients/clients. Theoretical knowledge and professional attitude are integrated with clinical work. Before and in parallel with the clinical placement learning activities occur. Teaching and learning activities are based on a problem-oriented and collaborative approach to learning to provide opportunities for the students to take active responsibility for their own learning. Teaching and learning activities include lectures, demonstrations, seminars, field studies, literature studies, peer-learning, and skills training with and without patients. The students are expected to engage in self studies during the clincal part of the course. The clinical placement with own patients will be offered on different open care facilities. The clinical placement comprises 40 hours/week (full-time studies) of which about 32 hours/week are in a clinical setting. Students are not allowed to decrease the length of the clinical placement.

Compulsory course elements are:

• attendance at the clinical placement
• attendance at practical and theoretical patient case seminars
• interprofessional assignment during clinical placement
• One day of field study in an other open care setting (peer-learning)

The examiner decides if, and if so how, absence from compulsory course elements can be made up for. Study results cannot be reported until the student has participated in compulsory course elements or compensated for any absence in accordance with instructions from the examiner. Absence from a compulsory course element could mean that the student can not retake the element until the next time the course is offered.

The course is examined according to the following:

Component 1 - Physical therapy in out-patient care

• Written individual examination.
• Practical examination:

Component 2 - Clincal training

• During clinical training, an ongoing and continuous assessment of the student's knowledge, skills and attitude are performed with respect to: problem-solving ability; examination; treatment, communication; patient documentation; cooperation and patient safety in the clinical work which is based on the supervisor's assessment founded in established assessment criteria.
• Written patient case and oral presentation of patient case report.

Should the intended learning outcomes for the clinical placement not be met, they should be compensated for at the next coming course of the following semester. A failed clinical placement can be repeated only once.

Students who do not pass a regular examination are entitled to re-sit the examination on five more occasions. The above does not apply, should the course have been discontinued or undergone major changes. If the student has failed six examinations/tests, no additional examination is given. Each occasion the student participates in the same test counts as an examination. Submission of a blank exam paper is regarded as an examination. Submission of a blank exam paper is regarded as an examination. A digital examination that has been opened via the learning management system counts as an examination session even if the examination is not submitted. In case a student is registered for an examination but does not attend, this is not regarded as an examination. Late submissions of examination tasks are not accepted. Students who have not submitted their examination on time are refered to the occasion for re-take. The examiner assesses if a student has special reasons for the delay. The examiner has the possibility to make a decision about supplementary material to the examination to achieve the grade pass. Students who still lack a pass after three examinations have the possibility of retaking the course or parts of it one more time. Being able to retake all or parts of the course is subject to availability

If there are special grounds or a need for adaptation for a student with a disability, the examiner may decide to deviate from the syllabus's regulations regarding the type of examination, the number of examination opportunities, the possibility of supplementation, or exemptions from the compulsory section/s of the course, etc. The course content or learning outcomes, as well as the level of expected skills, knowledge, and attitudes, may not be changed, removed, or reduced.

The examiner may, with immediate effect, interrupt a student's clinical placement (or equivalent) if the student demonstrates such serious deficiencies in knowledge, skills or attitude that patient safety or patient confidence in healthcare is at risk. If a clinical placement is interrupted in this way the student is deemed to have failed that element and to have used up one clinical placement opportunity. In such cases, an individual action plan should be established, that states which learning activities and examinations are required before the student is given the possibility for a new clinical placement in the course. Before the action plan is fulfilled, the student should not be offered a new clinical placement within any education program at KI. The number of examinations in the action plan is limited to twice. If the student has failed on the final possible examination no further action plan should be established. A student who has started and not completed a clinical placement without formal reasons should be assigned the grade fail. In such case, the student has forfeited an opportunity for clinical placement.

An examination will be made available for a period of one year in the event of the course being discontinued or a new course syllabus being devised.

Course evaluation is carried out according to the guidelines established by the Board of Education.