Acheampong K1, Quartey J1, Kwakye S2, Dankwah J1
1University of Ghana, Physiotherapy, Accra, Ghana, 2West Africa Football Academy, Physiotherapy, Sogakope, Ghana
Background: Clinical education is considered a vital aspect of education of health science students and is a professional requirement for permanent licensure by most professional councils. It consists of two parts, the clinical learning environment and supervision. Attributes of clinical educators (supervisors) and the clinical learning environment are crucial factors in determining the outcome of clinical learning and students' competence in practice.
Purpose: The interaction between clinical educators and students is believed to be most influential in affecting learning in the clinical environment and is therefore pivotal in the success of a clinical education programme. The ongoing changes in health care needs in addition to the increasing focus on evidence-based practice by health professions have transformed students' clinical experiences. The clinical learning environment is a complex learning environment, thus understanding the experience from the perspective of the student may help identify strategies to improve the learning process, and facilitate engagement.
There is however paucity of this information for physiotherapy students at University of Ghana. The aim of this study was to determine undergraduate allied health sciences' students' rating on clinical educators' attributes and their perception of the clinical learning environment.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 169 clinical year undergraduate allied health sciences students of University of Ghana, recruited randomly from the departments of dietetics, medical laboratory sciences, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and radiography according to equal proportions. A data capturing form was used to obtain participants' socio-demographic information, while the McGill Clinical Teacher Evaluation tool and the clinical learning environment inventory were used to obtain students' ratings on clinical educators' attributes and their perception of the clinical learning environment respectively. Descriptive statistics were used to describe perceptions while Kruskal Wallis and Independent t tests were used to determine the difference between the perceptions of students in the various levels and programmes of study on the clinical learning environment and clinical educators' attributes.
Results: The participants comprised of 99 (58.6%) males and 70 (41.4%) females. There were 79 (46.7%) third year and 90 (50.8%) fourth year students. The students reported high ratings about their clinical educators' attributes and positive perceptions of the clinical learning environment. In spite of these findings, only 16 (9.5%) students indicated that they had been visited by lecturers, which may have resulted in the “Innovation” domain of the clinical learning environment being the least scored (mean of 21.5). Clinical learning environment differed significantly among the different levels (t=4.215, p=0.000) and programmes (X²= 10.834, p= 0.028) of study respectively. Rating on clinical educators attributes did not differ between the different levels (t=1.604, p= 0.111) and programmes (X2 = 5.264, p= 0.261) of study respectively.
Conclusion(s): Allied health sciences' students had a positive perception about their clinical learning environment and clinical educators' attributes.
Implications: Enhanced supervision of students during clinical rotation may ensure students' innovations are brought to bear in line with their classroom tuition.
Keywords: Clinical learning environment, clinical educators, clinical educators' attributes
Funding acknowledgements: None
Purpose: The interaction between clinical educators and students is believed to be most influential in affecting learning in the clinical environment and is therefore pivotal in the success of a clinical education programme. The ongoing changes in health care needs in addition to the increasing focus on evidence-based practice by health professions have transformed students' clinical experiences. The clinical learning environment is a complex learning environment, thus understanding the experience from the perspective of the student may help identify strategies to improve the learning process, and facilitate engagement.
There is however paucity of this information for physiotherapy students at University of Ghana. The aim of this study was to determine undergraduate allied health sciences' students' rating on clinical educators' attributes and their perception of the clinical learning environment.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 169 clinical year undergraduate allied health sciences students of University of Ghana, recruited randomly from the departments of dietetics, medical laboratory sciences, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and radiography according to equal proportions. A data capturing form was used to obtain participants' socio-demographic information, while the McGill Clinical Teacher Evaluation tool and the clinical learning environment inventory were used to obtain students' ratings on clinical educators' attributes and their perception of the clinical learning environment respectively. Descriptive statistics were used to describe perceptions while Kruskal Wallis and Independent t tests were used to determine the difference between the perceptions of students in the various levels and programmes of study on the clinical learning environment and clinical educators' attributes.
Results: The participants comprised of 99 (58.6%) males and 70 (41.4%) females. There were 79 (46.7%) third year and 90 (50.8%) fourth year students. The students reported high ratings about their clinical educators' attributes and positive perceptions of the clinical learning environment. In spite of these findings, only 16 (9.5%) students indicated that they had been visited by lecturers, which may have resulted in the “Innovation” domain of the clinical learning environment being the least scored (mean of 21.5). Clinical learning environment differed significantly among the different levels (t=4.215, p=0.000) and programmes (X²= 10.834, p= 0.028) of study respectively. Rating on clinical educators attributes did not differ between the different levels (t=1.604, p= 0.111) and programmes (X2 = 5.264, p= 0.261) of study respectively.
Conclusion(s): Allied health sciences' students had a positive perception about their clinical learning environment and clinical educators' attributes.
Implications: Enhanced supervision of students during clinical rotation may ensure students' innovations are brought to bear in line with their classroom tuition.
Keywords: Clinical learning environment, clinical educators, clinical educators' attributes
Funding acknowledgements: None
Topic: Education
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: University of Ghana
Ethics committee: Ethics and Protocol Review Committee
Ethics number: SBAHS-PH./A.K.A.K/SA/2017-2018
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
