Does Online Professional Development for Physical Therapists Enhance Clinical Practice and Patient Outcomes? Protocol for a Mixed Methods, Randomized Controlled Trial.

Online clinical mentoring has shown potential as a flexible professional development activity that enhances physical therapist practice. Online delivery can overcome time and distance barriers to participation in professional development. The impact of this learning activity on physical therapist practice and patient outcomes has not been rigorously tested. Thus, the aim of this study is to determine whether online clinical mentoring is more effective than asynchronous online lectures at improving physical therapist practice and patient outcomes. An additional aim is to explore the lived experience of physical therapist learners who participate in online clinical mentoring. In this mixed methods evaluation, 24 physical therapist learners will be randomized to 1 of 2 online professional development activities. Experimental group physical therapists will complete 6 online clinical mentoring sessions. Control group physical therapists will complete 6 online lectures. The primary outcome evaluated will be the effect on the physical therapist's patients, using the Patient-Specific Functional Scale. Physical therapist learner secondary outcomes are confidence, self-reflection, and satisfaction. Accounting for possible dropouts, a sample size of 216 patients was determined using a pragmatic sample of 24 physical therapists, power of 0.80, alpha of 0.05, and between-group differences of 1.0 (SD = 2.0) on the Patient-Specific Functional Scale. Consecutive, eligible patients under the care of the physical therapist learners will complete outcome measures at initial appointment and at 4 weeks follow-up. Linear mixed model regression analysis will be used to estimate treatment effects from the posttreatment group means at 4 weeks. Participants undertaking online clinical mentoring will complete semi-structured interviews that will be thematically analyzed using a phenomenological approach. This research study will establish the effectiveness of online clinical mentoring to inform future professional development. The qualitative component will identify the potential mechanisms by which online clinical mentoring might be effective, thus informing future implementation of this professional development activity.

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