Comparing fourth-year students’ perspectives of the performance of clinical instructors in different departments of Ahvaz School of Rehabilitation Sciences

One of the most important determinants of effective clinical education is the performance of clinical instructors. Given the recruitment of young instructors for clinical teaching in educational-medical centers under the supervision of Ahvaz School of Rehabilitation Sciences, the purpose of this study was to compare the fourth-year undergraduate students’ perspective of the performance of clinical instructors in different departments of this school using a questionnaire. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 30, 18, 30, and 26 questionnaires were completed by fourth-year students from physiotherapy, speech therapy, audiology, and occupational therapy departments, respectively who were studying in the second semester of academic year 2018-2019. The questionnaire involved 18 items and four domains. In the domain of overall assessment, the mean score obtained from students of occupational therapy, audiology, and speech therapy indicated relatively good performance, while that related to the students of physiotherapy was moderate. The results of one-way analysis of variance showed a significant difference between the domains of knowledge and practical skills (p= 0.037). Item analysis showed a significant difference between different groups in items nine (p= 0.006), eleven (p= 0.029), and thirteen (p= 0.042). In three cases, the mean score of the physiotherapy students was lower than that of occupational therapy students. It seems that in all the departments studied, there is room for developing and improving the abilities of clinical instructors for reaching a very good level, but the need to increase these abilities is higher with respect to physiotherapy.