USING A DIGITAL COMMUNITY TO SHARE PHYSICAL THERAPY STUDENTS LEARNING EXPERIENCES AND SUPPORT PRACTICE EDUCATOR DEVELOPMENT

C. Hamshire¹, K. Jack², E. Hannah²

¹Salford University, Manchester, United Kingdom, ²Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom

Background: An essential aspect of undergraduate physical therapy programmes is practice placement learning. The United Kingdom Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC, 2018) state that practice educators must undertake regular education and development, which is appropriate to their role, the needs of learners and the delivery of the learning outcomes of the programme. Therefore, providing meaningful learning and developmental opportunities for educators, to enable them to support students, is essential. However, there can be difficulties in providing development for practice educators, due to lack of protected time to attend training days. Further, educational support might not adequately represent the views of the students themselves. This is important as placement learning has been previously identified as problematic and stressful for students (Jack et al. 2018., Hamshire and Wibberley, 2017). A helpful way to provide flexible learning opportunities for physical therapy educators is through simulated learning. We propose student centred learning activities using the digital community, Birley Place.

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to offer a digital interactive resource, 'PLATO', (The Practice Learning and Teaching Orientations Tool) to support practice educators to meaningfully engage with students within the practice setting. Students were invited to share their clinical placement stories which were communicated using the digital community, Birley Place. The purpose of such an approach was to enable educators to explore their role whilst recognising the multiple influences on practice education.

Methods: The project utilised a co-productive method to involve students’ clinical placement stories to inform development of the educator resources. PLATO is designed to be used by educators either alone or in groups with the focus on enhancing their understanding of practice education through identification of the potential challenges within the practice setting (Jack & Hamshire, 2019). The use of the Birley Place digital community enables learning to take place in a real world context as it contains a university, hospital and other health and social care settings.

Results: Recognising the importance of meaningful learning experiences, this interactive model demonstrates the importance of the educator, team and wider orientations as well as the dynamic interplay between each of these, which is fundamental to the practice environment. Co-production of the resources with our students, helped the educators to consider not only themselves but the wider influences on their practice, in the context of the challenges faced by students.

Conclusions: The practice placement environment can be challenging for some students as they join unfamiliar workplace teams and must develop new connections and working practices within a short timeframe. Supporting educators in a flexible way, using a digital community, enables themto explore, discuss and review their role and how it can be developed in partnership with students.

Implications: Whilst acknowledging that there will be institutional variations both Practice Educators and students need to work together to identify what constitutes appropriate levels of student support within the clinical environment.
Findings of this project provide valuable insights to inform future student support on placement and in safe healthcare practice.

Funding acknowledgements: This work was funded by Manchester Metropolitan University.

Keywords:
Practice educator
Student
Practice placement

Topics:
Education: clinical
Education: methods of teaching & learning
Education: continuing professional development

Did this work require ethics approval? Yes

Institution: Manchester Metropolitan University

Committee: Faculty of Health and Education

Ethics number: 38450