Developing physiotherapy student safety skills in readiness for clinical placement using standardised patients compared with peer-role play: a pilot non-randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Using simulated learning environments with standardised patients (SPs) provides a way to scaffold the development of skills for patient safety in a low risk environment. There are no data regarding whether adding SP interactions in early years of physiotherapy training improves safe performance on clinical placement. We assessed the feasibility of recruiting and collecting data from junior physiotherapy students during an SP workshop with a pilot non-randomised trial, also assessing time, cost and scheduling information. METHODS: Second year physiotherapy students were invited to participate and allocated to either the SP workshop in a simulated hospital environment (with and without video feedback) or usual teaching comprising peer role play. The main outcome measures were participant recruitment, retention and survey response rates, whether the training and workshops were delivered as scheduled and costs for SPs and staff training and workshop attendance. Students self-reported confidence, communication, preparedness for clinic and satisfaction was measured using pre-post surveys. RESULTS: The pilot trial proved feasible, with 108 students recruited (100%) and high retention (95%) and survey response rates (85%). The training sessions and SP workshops were delivered as scheduled, costing $4700AUD. Students rated their confidence and preparedness for clinical placement higher post intervention (p < 0.001) with high levels of satisfaction with the SP interactions (mean score 9.3/10). CONCLUSIONS: In this setting the SP workshop was feasible. Further research incorporating a randomised trial investigating the integration of SPs for the development and assessment of patient safety skills in physiotherapy education is recommended. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ANZCTR no: 12,615,000,686,505. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-017-0973-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.