Student education
Katherine Garvey and Alicia Ridout describe how an Elizabeth Casson Trust funded digital innovation study has been progressing , with the aim of supporting students with their transition to qualified practitioner .
Student education
Feature
A transitional student support project
Katherine Garvey and Alicia Ridout describe how an Elizabeth Casson Trust funded digital innovation study has been progressing , with the aim of supporting students with their transition to qualified practitioner .
S
tudents at Sheffield Hallam University have been participating in a digital innovation study , funded by the Elizabeth Casson Trust . The COG- OT + ( clinical onboarding guide for occupational therapists ) evaluation study included an intervention and a control group , spanning their final semester to the first six to nine months as a working preceptee .
In 2020 , at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic , a group of OTs collaborated to create a proof-of-concept webapp ( a mobile responsive web-based tool ) for OTs having to work in this new context of digital practice .
Funded by the Elizabeth Casson Trust , the free webapp was deployed directly to occupational therapists , to support their awareness of digital patient safety using occupational models .
The team was subsequently awarded the RCOT Tunstall Award for Technology Innovation in Occupational Therapy and conducted some early evaluation work in 2021 , to gather insights into how it was being used .
This highlighted a concern regarding novice practitioners ’ transition into qualified practice , after the pandemic . To assess the use of the webapp in this context , the Elizabeth Casson Trust funded an evaluation project in late 2021 , using the webapp alone ( the control group ) and with an additional support offer ( the intervention group ).
This aimed to offer a small group of final year students moving across what has been termed a ‘ flaky bridge ’ ( HEE 2018 ) into practice . The students were studying at Sheffield Hallam University , which was a partner on the project .
© Mirel Kipioro via Getty Images