Profession Education Topics

Finally there are topics covered that are profession specific and education and training in these could be opened up to Practice Educators within the profession irrespective of which HEI they take students from. Examples include:

 Clinical updates

 Evidence based practice

 Common Assessment forms (specifically Physiotherapy and Speech and Language Therapy as a common assessment form has been devised in these two professions).

Proposed Course Delivery

The course content as proposed by the Therapy Project Office is split into these parts of Multidisciplinary, Therapy course and Professional specific topics, and the methods by which these topics can be delivered is now discussed.

Part 1: Multidisciplinary

The multidisciplinary topics are areas of knowledge and / or skills that all Practice Educators irrespective of profession should be developing. As all Therapy courses aim to provide these same topics to their Practice Educators it would seem that economies of scale would certainly be achieved if a collaborative approach was to be agreed. At a minimum this could be done at HEI level (2-3 Therapy courses within the one HEI) or at best at national level to devise a set course to develop the skills at the levels needed by the Practice Educator. Such a course with standard topics and in an organised structure could be delivered a number of times a year, in various locations, in order to skill up the Practice Educator irrespective of profession or location.

A multidisciplinary course could be developed collaboratively and delivered in a manner agreed by all the HEIs. Over the past few years, many of the HEIs have already begun to develop multidisciplinary Practice Educator programmes.

A standard structure could give a strong identity to practice education across the professions. Recognition could be given to those who have completed such a standard course. There are many examples of such courses which have been run successfully in Canada and Australia with a recognition process built in (these courses will be discussed later). This is also similar to the preceptorship model which is used to support the practice education of student nurses in the Republic of Ireland. Qualified nurses are expected to complete a standard preceptorship course in keeping with their professional responsibility to student education. These are delivered at HEI level with a standard content and format irrespective of where the course is delivered. Nurses can progress to an advanced preceptorship course at a later stage.

International Examples

The Preceptor Education Programme (PEP) in Canada is a multidisciplinary programme developed in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Western Ontario in conjunction with the Canadian Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. The topics and format of the Preceptor Education Programme were chosen based on extensive review of existing Canadian preceptor programmes and a survey of clinicians, students and HEI faculty members. The goals of the course are outlined in the module topics below¹:

Module 1: Orientation - welcome the student, roles and expectation Module 2: Developing learning objectives

Module 3: Giving and receiving informal feedback Module 4: Understanding and fostering clinical reasoning Module 5: Fostering reflective practice

Module 6: Dealing with conflict

Module 7: The formal evaluation process.

This course is structured to deliver very practical skills to the Practice Educators over a 2 day course. Further education days build on these topics and develop the Practice Educators’ skills and knowledge further.

The Advanced Clinical Education (AEA) in Australia was devised on a multidisciplinary basis and is run across three universities in Melbourne (La Trobe, Deakin and Monash Universities) for all of the Therapy Disciplines. It is run over three days in a block or three separate days over one month and offers a Certificate of Advancing Clinical Education. In order to be eligible for this, participants must complete the three day programme and a self-directed learning element as well. Participants use a learning contract to develop their knowledge or skills in an area of clinical education of personal interest. This multidisciplinary course is appropriate for all allied health and health professionals. The broad lay out of the course is as follows:

1 Source: http://www.preceptor.ca/index.html

Table 15: Curriculum of Advanced Clinical Education (AEA) course, Australia

Module1: Module 2: Module 3:

Preparation and beginning Practice in action Assessment and evaluation The supervision experience

- learning theory

Elements of effective supervision

The process of student assessment How context and culture

shape learning

Student characteristics Reflective practice for the clinician and student Planning and orientation

Supervisory styles

Source: http://www.advancingclinicaleducation.com.au/

Part 2: Therapy Course Specific Topics

It is proposed that this section of the overall course would cover a standard list of topics and should aim to give the Practice Educator an understanding of the various policies and procedures (e.g. relating to assessment, failing procedures etc.) and culture of each college.

This understanding is very important as all these processes etc. differ from one HEI to another. A standard one day course could run each year for new Practice Educators and for others who wish to update their knowledge.

Part 3: Profession Education Topics.

Professional education topics are generally clinical updates, training days and courses specifically designed to up-skill the therapists in the defined profession. In the past the Therapy Departments in the HEIs have provided such courses in recognition of the role of therapists as Practice Educators and more recently, to contribute to the promotion of a culture of continuous professional development. On a national level, it would be of benefit for the HEIs to collaborate on a programme of professional education topics that could be delivered nationwide. Having a national plan would help to promote ease of regional access to all therapists (irrespective of affiliated therapy course).