A SIMULATION BASED TRAINING PROGRAM FOR CLINICAL EDUCATORS TO SUPPORT STUDENTS WHO EXPERIENCE MICRO AND MACROAGGRESSIONS IN THE CLINICAL SETTING

C. Cesario¹, D. Bangs¹, J. Maxwell²

¹Northeastern University, Boston, United States, ²South College, Knoxville, United States

Background: Clinical education is a experiential learning experience where student clinicians spend a significant portion of their training in clinical settings. This time can be an uncomfortable and/or unsafe environment for students who identify as LGBTQ because of the lack of awareness or sensitivity in some patients or clinical staff. Students who identify as part of the LGBTQ community may have less success at achieving these learning goals when working with a supervising professional who lacks the awareness or capacity to create a positive learning environment. Students may experience misgendering, discrimination, or aggression in these settings, and may experience these from their instructors, members of the health care team, or patients. This could lead to poor clinical performance and effects on their mental health.

Purpose: The main purpose of this proposal is to develop an on-site training for a small group of clinical instructors in order to form a network of educators who can be counted on to provide a safe place for students who identify as LGBTQ. A training was created for a group of clinical instructors who work with our students that included didactic and simulation activities so we can create a “safe space” for students. By creating a network of empathetic and inclusive practitioners, we can develop our clinical partnerships so all students, as well as those who identify as part of this community, can flourish and learn as their authentic selves.

Methods: A full day workshop that consisted of didactic training conducted by the Directors of Clinical Education, the Director of the NU LGBTQ Resource Center, and a member of the Northeastern Center for Advancement of Teaching and Learning through Research (CATLR) took place in September 2022. This was followed by a simulation activity to use and "learn by doing" the skills reviewed in the didactic session. Participants will be contacted after the session and after they have reflected on the experience to measure how they have changed their outlook on issues facing the LGBTQ community and how they have become a better ally/advocate.

Results: This project is significant, as it is crucial that we as a University develop scaffolding to provide our students who identify as LGBTQ a safe and comfortable learning space when undertaking experiential and clinical learning. This includes when they are off-campus during any experiential learning activities. This project is innovative, in that it uses simulation, the latest technology and best practice in learning behaviors. Data will be collected in the fall of 2022 to determine the impact of this training and how we can make it scalable and sustainable.

Conclusions: Immediate and anecdotal reactions from participants was that they felt impacted by the simulation and empowered by the training. It is our intention that by beginning these crucial conversations and continuing to enlist more allies to the LGBTQ community, we can make all clinical education experiences a safe space for every physical therapist students.

Implications: This kind of training is vital to ensure that all members of the clinical education community feel safe as they learn.

Funding acknowledgements: Faculty Innovations in Diversity and Academic Excellence Grant from Northeastern University's ADVANCE office.

Keywords:
LGBTQ
DEI
Clinical Education

Topics:
Professional issues: diversity and inclusion
Education: clinical
Education

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: Northeastern Unviversity

Committee: Institutional Review Board

Ethics number: IRB#21-05-18