Deployment of professional expertise during a period of disruption: A phenomenological study of rehabilitation clinicians

Abstract

Rationale: Practice context is known to influence the deployment of competencies. The COVID-19 pandemic created a major disruption in many practice contexts. The objective was to understand the lived experience of rehabilitation clinicians during a major disruption of their practice context, namely, the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We used a longitudinal phenomenological design. Eligible clinicians were occupational therapists (OT), physical therapists (PT), physiotherapy technologists (Phys T.), speech-language pathologists (S-LP) and audiologists (AUD), working in the same rehabilitation workplace for at least 2 years before March 2020 (the pandemic). Clinicians who were reassigned to roles outside the field of rehabilitation were excluded. We conducted individual online interviews using a guide developed by the team with expertise and knowledge of the phenomenon. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was carried out. Results were discussed until the research team reached a consensus.

Results: A total of 32 clinicians participated in the study (12 OT, 5 PT, 5 Phys T., 7 S-LP, 3 AUD), working with a variety of clienteles and work settings, for an average of 11.7 ± 7.6 years in the same practice setting. A wide range of emotions (e.g. anger, sadness, guilt, fear, pride) reflected clinicians' experience during disruption. Professional expertise was perceived as being enhanced by disruption as clinicians stepped out of their comfort zone; this encouraged reflective practice and a recognition of the need to be more explicit about their decision-making process. Collaboration with colleagues was perceived as key for effective coping and deployment of adaptative expertise.

Conclusions: A disruption in the practice context may have positive effects on professional expertise through the mobilization of reflective practice.

Keywords: disruption; evidence‐based practice; expertise; pandemics; professional competence; rehabilitation.