Factors affecting the clinical education of rehabilitation students in Iran: A systematic review

Background: Clinical education is one of the main parts in medical education, and rehabilitation sciences are not exception. Through clinical education programs, students gain required qualifications to enter professional life. Several factors impact on students' clinical education, and identifying these factors could help in the improvement of clinical education and could improve knowledge transferring to clinical practice especially in rehabilitation sciences in Iran. The purpose of present review study is identifying the factors potentially affecting the clinical education of rehabilitation students in Iran. Methods: A systematic review study conducted based on the evidence-based method on published articles from 2000 to 2017. The search process was carried out on MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and EMBASE databases. Results: A total of 167 papers were selected. Given identical findings and considering eligibility criteria, 12 articles in the fields of clinical education, clinical competence, professional ethics education, and clinical reasoning were ultimately chosen. Conclusion: The results indicate that many factors might influence the clinical education of rehabilitation science students. Environmental factors (including ministry policies, educational curriculums, clinical education environments, and educational facilities/equipment) and individual factors (the knowledge and skills of students and characteristics of clinical trainers) were identified as the most influential factors in clinical education.