An expert patient-led approach to learning and teaching: the case of physiotherapy

With patient expertise being afforded greater legitimacy in healthcare provision, there is a strengthening case for involving patients more creatively in the education of healthcare professionals. This paper reports on the results of a small-scale educational research project designed to explore how third-year physiotherapy students experienced a teaching session on the subject of strokes, led by two expert patients, and what they learnt from it. Applying a qualitative methodology, six students were interviewed in depth about the experience. Four key pedagogic themes emerged from the analysis of the interview transcripts. The first related to the differences between the expert patients in terms of their backgrounds and their reactions to experiencing a stroke and of their respective contributions to the session. A second concerned the anxieties students felt in participating in a session of this kind, since there were various departures from the norm, and what they should take from it in terms of their learning. A third theme was uncertainty regarding the relationship between the presenters and students. The fourth theme was the impact on student learning given that it had not been a conventional session. Notwithstanding any misgivings the session helped to validate the contribution that those who have direct experience of a clinical condition can make to the education of healthcare professionals, particularly in the affective domain. In planning sessions of this kind it is recommended that presenters are chosen with a view to challenging stereotypes and that they are encouraged to tell their stories in an open and flexible manner, albeit within a framework of intended learning outcomes. Students need to approach the session with an open mind and, above all, tutors need to be prepared to take risks.