impact of ICUs and Wards Clinical Postings on Psychological Health of medical students
Description
Background: The study investigated how clinical placements in ICUs and wards affected the mental health of physiotherapy students, focusing on stress levels, coping, and emotional well-being. Results helped to understand the impact of these experiences and develop support strategies for students. Purpose: This study aimed to understand how physiotherapy students' mental health was affected by clinical placements in ICUs and general hospital wards, exploring differences in stress levels and coping strategies between the two environments. Method and Materials: An online survey study among both undergraduate (1st to 4th BPT year and BPT intern) and postgraduate physiotherapy students was conducted. Using convenient sampling, 288 both undergraduate & postgraduate physiotherapy students were included in this study. A self-developed questionnaire was used for data collection, which contained 2 domains: 15 questions to assess behavior and 15 questions to assess the self-confidence of students. Results: Among all 288 undergraduate and postgraduate physiotherapy students, the present study assessed that 29.1% and 38.7%, or 33.3% were not affected and did not experience any change in undergraduate and postgraduate physiotherapy students' behavior and self-confidence, respectively. In the context of gender, females were more included in this study than males. Conclusion: The present study concluded that more than half of undergraduate and postgraduate physiotherapy students of MMIPR experienced some degree of changes in behavior and self-confidence during their clinical posting time in ICUs and Wards. Keywords: Behaviour, Self-confidence, Mental health, General Hospital, Physiotherapy students