Abstract
In piloting a shift from traditional practice-based placements to decentralised clinical training (DCT), there was a need to explore the factors that influenced the placement as part of monitoring and evaluation. DCT involves placement to clinical sites away from the higher education institution necessitating changes to supervision strategies utilised. This study explored the experiences of clinical educators supervising occupational therapy students within this new model during a pilot phase of the DCT programme at one institution in South Africa. The study was located in KwaZulu-Natal province and followed an explorative qualitative design with semi-structured interviews and focus groups with purposively sampled clinical educators (n=11). Data were audio-recorded and d thematically analysed. Two central themes emerged and included the clinical educators' expectations (organisation factors, role and scope of partners in decentralised training and communication) and experiences (perspectives and value of decentralised training). Decentralised training has considerable potential to contribute to authentic student learning. Improved communication between all stakeholders would assist in enhancing the quality of the learning experiences on such platforms. Students need to be more prepared prior to commencing DCT, and there is a need for more rural placements with a primary health care focus.
Highlights
The burgeoning number of students within health professions education has necessitated the acquisition of additional practice-based placement (PBP) sites and the adoption of alternative modes of student supervi-African Health Sciences traditional PBP as students are trained away from the central academic hospitals, at district or regional level hospitals or at appropriate healthcare facilities, which provide services to the surrounding communities
The occupational therapists at the PBP site supervise daily professional practice while the academic supervisors provide distant supervision using digital platforms such as Zoom, Skype or WhatsApp calls due to the geographical distance of the sites 2. Both traditional and decentralised clinical training (DCT) PBP meet the criteria for the 1000 clinical hours required by the international and local regulatory bodies, namely, the World Federation of Occupational Therapy (WFOT) and the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA)
This study aimed to explore the experiences of clinical educators in students' supervision to gain insight into their experiences during the pilot phase of the DCT implementation
Summary
The burgeoning number of students within health professions education has necessitated the acquisition of additional practice-based placement (PBP) sites and the adoption of alternative modes of student supervi-African Health Sciences traditional PBP as students are trained away from the central academic hospitals, at district or regional level hospitals or at appropriate healthcare facilities, which provide services to the surrounding communities. The occupational therapists at the PBP site supervise daily professional practice while the academic supervisors provide distant supervision using digital platforms such as Zoom, Skype or WhatsApp calls (including video-calls) due to the geographical distance of the sites 2 Both traditional and DCT PBP meet the criteria for the 1000 clinical hours required by the international and local regulatory bodies, namely, the World Federation of Occupational Therapy (WFOT) and the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). Students would be more adequately prepared for their first year of work (community service) and future professional practice through this exposure to the public sector and rural practice realities.[4,7] The training of these healthcare professionals, using the DCT model of PBP are underpinned by social accountability principles.[8].
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