Student education
Feature
H ere at the University of Bradford , COVID-19 affected every aspect of both occupational therapy and physiotherapy teaching ; from the way material was taught and delivered by the university , to the redeployment of clinical staff , and consequently their students , to the cancellation or suspension of clinical placements .
Pressures relating to the pandemic meant academics had to prioritise their time , quickly needing to become skilled with online platforms for teaching and assessment , changing timetables to allow for this , and supporting students through the unprecedented times .
Clinicians also had to concentrate on learning to work in diverse ways and were ‘ firefighting ’ on the front line . Therefore , fulfilling requirements to undertake the practice placement educator training had to take a back seat .
A close working relationship
The student placement experience is an essential element of all health professional education courses . It is fundamental to the development of clinical practice skills ( CSP 2021 ; Kurunsaari et al 2021 ; Norris and Wainwright 2020 ).
As clinicians , we worked as practice educators in our respective therapies and acknowledged the key role of maintaining standards of practice education .
While working jointly in clinical practice , we developed a close working relationship , as we were employed clinically for several years at the same NHS trust . Prior to embarking on moves into higher education in 2020 and 2021 , we often shared students who were on clinical placement in our service .
As new lecturers in occupational therapy and physiotherapy at the University of Bradford , transitioning from clinical roles to academic roles during the pandemic , we were faced not only with a complete change in job role , but also with working and integrating with new teams , predominantly using online platforms .
Impact of the pandemic on training
In recent years the availability of placements has been stretched due to an increase in the number of students training , and the pandemic has affected this further . The shortfall in placement capacity is not isolated to a region , or even country . It is a problem that has being increasing worldwide ( McBride et al 2020 ).
Because of the pandemic , our practice educator training courses had not been run for nearly a year , meaning that a backlog of staff requiring training had built up .
With many clinicians requiring either the initial educator training or updates , and the pandemic continuing with no end in sight , this needed to be addressed to prevent placement capacity dropping further .
So , as we established our roles within the busy teaching teams at the university , we were asked to look at re-starting the practice placement educator training , which new educators undertake as initial training and current educators as an update course .
Implementation of virtual learning
Previously , the practice educator training provided by the university for our three local trusts comprised of a two-day face-to-face course on the university campus for new educators and a one-day face-to-face course to update current educators . These were undertaken jointly by occupational therapy and physiotherapy staff .
Using the existing learning and teaching materials used in the faceto-face courses as a guide , we created new course materials that would enable virtual attendance and teaching .
We decided to use a virtual course for many reasons – primarily to ensure compliance with social distancing regulations , while enabling staff from different teams and trusts to interact with each other and with academics from the university .
An additional consideration was reduced time for academic staff , as face-to-face contact time was halved .
Providing educator training virtually , instead of through face-to-face sessions , not only reduced contact time for academics , but was also reported to improve the overall experience and flexibility for participants completing the course .”
February 2022 OTnews 25