Chapter 2: Clinical Mentorship: Teaching and Learning Strategies in Clinical Practice 3 CC Hours
By: Jennifer Furze, PT, DPT Learning objectives After completing this course, the learner will be able to: Describe the importance of and preparation for teaching in the clinical setting for the health professions. Identify skills to prepare a clinical instructor or mentor for teaching in clinical practice or the workplace. Explain how to determine the readiness of a learner in the clinical setting, and assess the learner’s growth, and make an educational diagnosis. Course overview According to Jensen, Nordstrom, Mostrom, Hack, and Gwyer (2017), practice-based learning or clinical education is a fundamental component to “excellence in physical therapist education.” In fact, physical therapist education programs devote approximately 45% of the curriculum to clinical education (Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education [CAPTE], 2018). Literature from cognitive psychology describes optimal learning as occurring in the context of “real-life” or the workplace such as clinical education (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999). Given the amount of time dedicated to clinical education in the curriculum, educators and program administrators value the critical learning that takes place in the clinical education environment to optimally improve patient care. While entry-level doctor of physical therapy (DPT) programs provide basic education in clinical instructor training
Identify characteristics of effective clinical educators and mentors to improve learning in the clinical setting. Compare and contrast clinical reasoning strategies to use in the clinical education environment. Discuss effective learner assessment strategies to determine competence in the clinical setting and workplace.
to all students and the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) sponsors additional clinical instructor training, many clinical instructors receive limited training on how to become an effective teacher. Clinical instruction at the practice site is not viewed as a priority, rather the emphasis is placed on treating patients, and thus professional development opportunities at both the clinical site and instructor level are needed (McCallum, Mosher, Jacobson, Gallivan, & Giuffre, 2013). In addition to the APTA Credentialed Clinical Instructor Program and Advanced Credentialed Clinical Instructor Program, this course serves as another tool to begin to bridge the gap for clinical educators in physical therapy through facilitation of teaching strategies, clinical reasoning skills, and assessment of student learning in the clinical setting.
IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING IN THE CLINICAL SETTING
apprenticeship or “on the job training” with mentorship. Historically, this has been an effective method of teaching and learning and is the model that the health professions use to train care providers as it provides the context and complexity that facilitate real learning. In physical and occupational therapy, workplace learning is equivalent to clinical education. a “community of practice” is formed. Learners view experienced professionals as role models and relationships are built, which in turn creates meaningful learning (Fuller, Hodkinson, Hodkinson, & Unwin, 2005). Medicine, nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and dentistry have embraced workplace learning as an integral and foundational component of the health professions curriculum (Norcini, 2016). In fact, a significant portion of the curriculum is dedicated to clinical education to develop the skills and competencies needed to practice. However, clinical education does not just magically produce skills and competence in an individual. There are specific pedagogies, characteristics of effective clinical instructors, and skills of instructors that will be discussed later that are an integral part of education in this environment (Mostrom, 2013). innovative, and willing to change given the circumstances. Cutrer et al propose a learning process for the master adaptive learner that entails 4 phases: planning, learning, assessing, and adjusting (Cutrer et al., 2017). Specifically, during the planning phase, the learner demonstrates self-awareness in identifying that a problem exists, selecting an opportunity for learning, and initiating a search for resources to learn. The
In the dynamic and changing healthcare environment, providing effective and efficient care to patients with multiple comorbidities is an essential skill of all healthcare providers, including physical therapists. In order to develop these important skills, practicing in an environment that provides the complexity of the real situation is necessary. This type of “practice” with an experienced tradesperson is called an Workplace learning The actual practice and participation in work with feedback from an experienced professional is the most common method of acquiring competence and this method is used throughout many trades and professions to develop skills (Billett, 2016). This learning through practice occurs through four key factors: 1. Various knowledge is developed through hands-on practice. 2. The situation of the environment provides many opportunities and hints about how to perform skills. 3. Practice allows for improved skills. 4. Feedback improves performance over practice alone. (Billet, 2016) What is traditionally called workplace learning is what therapists and educators describe as clinical education. A unique feature of workplace learning is the “social activity” component of this learning. In this network of individuals learning from each other, The adaptive learner Given the dynamic nature of health care and the multiple comorbidities patients demonstrate when entering the system, teaching healthcare providers to adapt to any situation is important when delivering high-quality, effective care (Cutrer et al., 2017). The medical profession has recently created a conceptual model identifying the “master adaptive learner” as a physician who is an expert, self-directed, reflective,
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Book Code: PTCA2622B
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