Clinical education is the integration of theory into practice in the health care environment, with the aim of developing clinically competent health science practitioners. This type of training is imperative in health science professions as it provides hands-on practical experience with real patients in a real clinical environment [1-3]. Traditionally, this training has been centered around well-resourced academic hospitals, mainly in cities close to universities [4]. However, a global shift toward community-based clinical practice conducted away from a university setting and large academic hospitals necessitates a change toward rural and periurban clinical placements [5]. This type of training is also known as decentralized clinical training [6,7].

The primary health care approach has been identified as a “first level of contact in a health system” [8]. Therefore, it is essential for a curriculum to address the primary health care needs of the population, which are social responsiveness, inclusiveness, and participation [9]. This transformation prepares undergraduate students to be socially responsive to the needs of the communities they serve, giving them the confidence to become health advocates for their patients [4,10,11].

Physiotherapy is one of the few health science professions that manages patients from the acute hospital phase in the intensive care unit to a chronic rehabilitation phase in the primary health care setting in the communities in which patients live. Therefore, diversified clinical training of physiotherapy students is essential for a curriculum that aims to provide clinical competence and social accountability [3,12-15]. Although this is also the case for medical students [6,16], there have been extensive global debates regarding practical placements and their effectiveness in producing graduates who are prepared for the changing health needs in the developing world [5,13,17-19]. The primary purpose of a school of physiotherapy is to develop graduates that have both the clinical reasoning and practical skills required to function as competent practitioners in all levels of care [20].

Global research on health education programs [2,3,18,19,21,22] concurs that a community-based clinical training program that uses decentralized clinical training platforms is an excellent approach. This approach aims to achieve transformative learning, which enhances ethical and social accountability [17]. Decentralized clinical training in this context is defined as training closer to the community, away from universities and large academic hospitals. The changes in health education, including an increase in student intake and health systems requirements, are a driving force to ensure that students are well prepared to meet the demands of their communities. This will require an improvement, review, or change in the curriculum to ensure the preparedness of graduates to be competent professionals who can implement knowledge, skills, and values practically [3,7].

A scoping literature review conducted by De Villers et al [6] confirmed that medical training in sub-Saharan Africa conducted at different clinical settings distant from large academic hospitals is beneficial in improving core competencies for students and in retaining these graduates in rural settings. However, less is known about other health science undergraduate programs in this regard, specifically for the discipline of physiotherapy. Therefore, there is a need for evaluation of existing global community-based clinical education models to contribute toward the development of a community-based primary health care training model in the South African context. This scoping review aims to examine and map evidence related to community-based clinical education models for undergraduate physiotherapy students and highlight their ability to produce socially responsive graduates. The results of this review will contribute toward the development of a community-based primary health care training model for undergraduate physiotherapy students in the South African context.

Data collection will commence upon protocol publication, and the results can be expected in the following 5 months.

This scoping review aims to map out existing models of community-based clinical education and highlight their ability to produce socially responsive graduates. There is a global shift toward community-based clinical training of health care professionals with evidence supporting this approach in undergraduate medical education [19,22].

The undergraduate physiotherapy curriculum needs to produce graduates who possess the competencies of a health practitioner, professional, scholar, health advocate, collaborator, communicator, and leader. Decentralized clinical training has been reported as the best method of developing competent undergraduate students who will be socially accountable and able to advocate for their patients [6,28].

This scoping review will synthesize the evidence and reveal knowledge gaps to contribute toward the development of a community-based clinical education model for undergraduate physiotherapy students in a South African context.

Clinical education stakeholders, physiotherapist clinical supervisors in different hospital settings, and academics involved in the training of undergraduates stand to benefit from this scoping review. The review will produce consolidated evidence of various models of community-based clinical education for undergraduate students. This evidence can be employed by stakeholders to design future programs and also form a basis for future research.

This scoping review will clearly describe the global community-based clinical education models used for the training of undergraduate physiotherapy students. The empirical evidence obtained from this review will be beneficial to stakeholders in health science education, including academics, clinicians, and policymakers, contributing to the ongoing transformation of clinical training.