Analyzing international clinical education practices for Canadian rehabilitation students

BMC Medical Education

Stephanie A Nixon¹  Brenda Mori¹  Lynn Ellwood¹  Lynn Cockburn¹  Debra Cameron¹  Puja Ahluwalia¹ 

[1]160-500 University Avenue, Toronto, ON M5G 1 V7, Canada

关键词: Curriculum development;    International clinical internships;    Global health;    Rehabilitation;    Ethics;   

Others  :  1091456
DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6920-14-187

 received in 2013-10-21, accepted in 2014-09-05,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Clinical training in low-income countries has become increasingly popular among pre-licensure trainees from high-income countries. The Working Group on Ethics Guidelines for Global Health Training (“WEIGHT Guidelines”) were designed to identify and inform the complex and contentious field of international clinical education. The purpose of this study was to use the WEIGHT Guidelines to evaluate an international clinical internship programme for Master’s-level rehabilitation students at a Canadian university.

Methods

In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight Canadian rehabilitation researchers, educations and/or clinicians responsible for administering international internships across three clinical training programmes. Interview questions were informed by the WEIGHT Guidelines. Directed content analysis was used to identify priorities for policy, practice and research.

Results

Five themes relating to strengthening international clinical education were identified: (1) from one-time internships to long-term partnerships, (2) starting a discussion about “costs”, (3) a more informed approach to student selection, (4) expanding and harmonizing pre-departure training across disciplines, and (5) investing in post-internship debriefing.

Conclusions

International clinical education is fraught with ethical, pedagogical and logistical issues that require recognition and ongoing management. This is the first study to use the WEIGHT Guidelines as a qualitative research tool for assessing an existing global health education programme. Results highlight new priorities for action at the Canadian “sending institution”, including more explicit attention to the costs (broadly defined) borne by all parties. A crucial next step is deepened engagement with educational partners at the “receiving organizations” based in low-income countries to nurture dialogue regarding reciprocity, trust and sustainability of the partnership. Education research is also needed that evaluates models of pre-departure training and post-internship debriefing for trainees.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Ahluwalia et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Fig. 5.

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