Understanding undergraduate physiotherapy students’ preparation needs for cardiorespiratory practice placement: A qualitative focus group exploration of pre- and post-placement perspectives

Cardiorespiratory physiotherapy is known to cause unique concerns regarding practice placements. Deeper understanding may enable academics and educators to better prepare students for practice education and postgraduate experience. Thirteen second-year and fourteen third-year BSc physiotherapy students were recruited via purposive sampling. Second years were interviewed prior to cardiorespiratory placement, with third years interviewed post-placement. Four focus groups (two per year) were conducted using semistructured question schedules. Thematic analysis was used for theme generation. The unknown nature and risk of harm within cardiorespiratory, simulation importance, and effective teaching were highlighted by both groups. Year 2 students perceived their lack of confidence and limited real-world applicability as issues, whilst year 3 students discussed practice educator role, managing expectations, and seeing benefits of intervention. Academics should appreciate student concerns around cardiorespiratory, linking theory to practice, and utilizing realistic scenarios and simulation. Skill repetition appears beneficial, as does effective mentorship by practice educators. This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by-nc-nd/4.0/ .