New-Graduate Physiotherapists’ Reflections on Training Experiences for Clinical Documentation

Background: Clinical documentation is a core component of physiotherapy practice and a required competency for professional accreditation in Australia, however there is a gap in understanding how physiotherapists’ documentation skills are developed. Objective: To explore new-graduate physiotherapists’ experiences and perspectives of learning clinical documentation in Australian entry-level physiotherapy programs. Methods: A qualitative study, featuring inductive reflexive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with new-graduate physiotherapists who graduated less than two years prior from Australian higher education institutions. Results: Sixteen new-graduate physiotherapists from six different entry-level physiotherapy programs participated. Four themes were generated to describe the data: 1) mixed experiences of learning documentation, 2) clinical placements are highly influential for skill development, 3) documentation education affects engagement in clinical settings, and 4) exposure, practice, feedback – repeat. Conclusion: Strong views were expressed amongst all participants regarding the importance of documentation training, with high value placed on early and repeated opportunities for exposure, practice and feedback when learning documentation skills. Authentic or ‘realistic’ settings for skill development were most influential, such as practical classes, simulation activities and clinical placements. Concerns were raised regarding inconsistencies in training experiences. Implications for enhancing entry-level physiotherapy training in clinical documentation are discussed.