Schwarz L; Midwestern University Physical Therapy Program, 555 31^st Street, Downers Grove, IL, USA. lschwaz@midwestern.edu.

PURPOSE: A program linking physical therapy student’s experience with evidence-based practice (EBP) and clinician’s clinical knowledge provided a unique opportunity to benefit both students and clinical practitioners with regard to the use of EBP. FOUNDATION: EBP is incorporated into the academic preparation of physical therapy students, however it is not easily implemented in the clinic. Time-constraints, limited computer access and limited knowledge of the EBP process have been reported in the literature as barriers to integrate EBP into clinical practice. A project incorporating active learning where students and clinical instructors (CI) gain from each other would foster EBP in the clinical environment. DESCRIPTION: CI and students on their final clinical experiences worked together to develop a clinical question one month prior to the clinical experience. CI were asked to complete a clinical question worksheet based on the Sackett model (2001) that included the patient/population, intervention, comparison, expected outcome (PICO), and the general intent of the question. The students then developed an in-service and handout addressing the question and the process of EBP, which was presented to the staff. CI were surveyed as to their perceptions of this unique program and its contribution to the clinic setting using a 7-question survey, which included both items scored on a 4-point Likert scale and open ended questions. The survey, based on themes in the literature, reflected on the process of writing the clinical question, the use of EBP in the clinical setting, and the benefit of the total project. OBSERVATIONS: Descriptive statistics, including frequency tables, were used to analyze data utilizing statistical program SPSS 11.5. 31 of 36 surveys were returned and analyzed. 67.7% of clinicians responded that they employed EBP only occasionally or rarely. Time constraints and knowledge of the process were the most common barriers. 96.8% of respondents reported that the project was useful or very useful to their practice. 61.3% of respondents reported that the project improved their knowledge about EBP and 81.5% of respondents agreed that students facilitated the staff in accessing and utilizing evidence in their practice adequately or very well. Only one of the CI felt that developing the clinical question was too burdensome. CONCLUSIONS: This student-clinician project is important to the profession in demonstrating an efficient and effective way to begin to incorporate EBP into clinical practice. Further research would investigate whether clinicians continued to integrate EBP independently after this collaborative project. FUNDING SOURCE: none.

Copyright 2004 by the American Physical Therapy Association

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