Calculating Percentage of Neuro or Cardioresp

A suggested method for calculating the percent of a placement that is cardiorespiratory or neuro

During their clinical placements, our students are required to fulfill a number of requirements. Two of these are that students have experience with cardiorespiratory and neurological clients. Our expectation is that a student's experience in each practice area will total 40% of a caseload - cumulatively across the five placements.

This experience may come from treating specific neurological patients on a "neuro placement" e.g. stroke, GBS, spinal cord injury, or it may come from treating an "ortho" patient who has underlying Parkinson's disease where specific neurological assessment and treatment techniques were used in the holistic treatment of the patient. Cardiorespiratory experience may be gained from assessing and treating a patient with a hip fracture who went on to develop respiratory complications that the student was involved in assessing and treating.

Clinical Instructors may find the following approach helpful in determining the portion of a student's placement that was spent in either cardiorespiratory or neuro:
  • Clarify the typical amount of time that a student spends in direct patient-care / day
  • Determine the amount of time the student spent in each cardioresp and neuro client care
  • Use this to calculate the percentage of time spent in each area
  • Talk with the student about your percentage estimate.
Example:
  • Student typically spends six hours per day in direct client care
  • One hour per day was spent with neuro clients
  • ~ 17% of the student's time was spent in neuro and this would be documented

Adjustments:

  • If the neuro (or cardioresp) involvement occurred for only a portion of the placement adjustments would be made to the estimate. For e.g. if the neuro experience occurred for only two of the five weeks, the estimate would be 40% of the 17% or ~ 7 %. 7% would be recorded on the evaluation form.

The students have a Clinical Learning Record. The Record provides a checklist of core conditions and interventions in orthopedic, neurological and cardiorespiratory. Students are expected to keep this Record updated and to use it to guide their clinical experiences. Please ask your student for it. It will let you know the experiences they have - and haven't - had and will help you direct their experiences while on placement.

For more specific information, see neuro and cardiorespiratory placement details.