Evaluating allied health students’ readiness for placement learning

BMC Medical Education

Research

Lucy Chipchase¹  Jennie Brentnall²  Justin Newton Scanlan²  Belinda Judd²  Kate Thomson²  Sue McAllister³  Felicity Blackstock⁴  Allison Mandrusiak⁵  Anna Phillips⁶ 

[1] College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia;Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia;Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia;College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia;School of Health Sciences, Western Sydney University, Campelltown, Australia;School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia;UniSA Allied Health and Human Performance, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia;

关键词: Assessment;    Health professional students;    Work integrated learning;    Readiness;    Allied health;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12909-023-04005-w

 received in 2022-09-20, accepted in 2023-01-05,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundExperiential learning opportunities, such as work integrated learning placements, are often challenging for health professional students. It is therefore imperative that students are adequately prepared before engaging in placement learning. Operationalising ‘readiness for learning on placement’ as a construct, is necessary for providing quality student feedback and assessment.MethodsAn integrative mixed methods approach was adopted for this study, utilising a survey to canvass the perspectives of academics, students, and placement educators around the construct of readiness to inform potential assessment items. An assessment tool measuring student readiness for placement was then developed. Data from occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech pathology programs were evaluated using Rasch analysis to explore the unidimensionality of this construct.ResultsThe online survey was completed by 64 participants, confirming the importance and measurability of foundational skills integral to readiness for placement learning. These foundational skills were then reflected in a pilot 20-item tool covering domains of professional and learner behaviour, communication, information gathering skills and reasoning. The Rasch analysis of 359 pre-registration student assessments confirmed unidimensionality, suggesting that the skills and attributes (operationalised as assessment items) that are considered part of ‘readiness for placement’ are components of this construct. Together, these findings provide support that the items on this tool are relevant and representative of the skills and behaviours that indicate readiness for placement learning. Two items regarding documentation and appropriate professional dress demonstrated some lower importance scores and interpretation variance warranting further investigation.ConclusionThrough the exploration of the construct of readiness for placement learning, we have created and subsequently revised, an innovative assessment tool that measures novice students’ pre-placement capabilities. Further research is now needed to explore the psychometric properties of the tool.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Crown 2023

【 图 表 】

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