Australian clinician's views on interprofessional education for students in the rural clinical setting
- Authors: Jacob, Elisabeth , Barnett, Tony , Missen, Karen , Cross, Dorothy , Walker, Lorraine
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Research in Interprofessional Practice and Education Vol. 2, no. 2 (2012 2012), p. 219-229
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- Description: Background: Collaboration between education providers and clinical agencies to develop models that facilitate cross-disciplinary clinical education for students is essential to produce work-ready graduates. Methods and Findings: This exploratory study investigated the perceptions of and opportunities for interprofessional education (IPE) from the perspectives of 57 clinical staff from three regional/rural health services across Victoria, Australia. Data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire, interviews, and focus group discussions with staff from 15 disciplinary groups who were responsible for clinical education. Although different views emerged on what IPE entailed, it was perceived by most clinicians to be valuable for students in enhancing teamwork, improving the understanding of roles and functions of team members, and facilitating common goals for patient care. While benefits of IPE could be articulated by clinicians, student engagement with IPE in clinical areas appeared to be limited, largely ad hoc, and opportunistic. Barriers to IPE included: timing of students’ placements, planning and coordination of activities, resource availability, and current regulatory and education provider requirements. Conclusions: Without the necessary resources and careful planning and coordination, the integration of IPE as a part of students’ clinical placement experience will remain a largely untapped resource.
Expanding the clinical placement capacity of rural hospitals in Australia: Displacing Peta to place Paul?
- Authors: Barnett, Tony , Walker, Lorraine , Jacob, Elisabeth , Missen, Karen , Cross, Dorothy , Shahwan-Akl, Lina
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Nurse Education Today Vol. 32, no. 5 (2012), p. 485-489
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- Description: In order to identify opportunities to build capacity for clinical placements, we mapped and described the organisation of student placements at three hospitals, each with multiple education providers, in rural Victoria, Australia. Using a cross-sectional, mixed method design, data were collected by survey, interviews and discussion with student placement coordinators representing 16 clinical health disciplines.Teaching and supporting students was regarded as an important part of the service each hospital provided and a useful staff recruitment strategy. There were peaks and troughs in student load over the year, though this was less marked for medicine and dentistry than for nursing and allied health disciplines. Whilst placements were managed largely on a discipline basis, each hospital had taken steps to communicate information about student placements across disciplines and to identify opportunities for interprofessional education (IPE).Placement capacity could be increased by sharing placement data within hospitals, smoothing the utilisation patterns across the year, capitalising on opportunities for IPE when there is concurrent placement of students from different disciplines, and through better employment of underutilised clinical areas. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.