Developing clinician expertise in paediatric dysphagia: what is an effective learning model?

Abstract

Background: Developing and maintaining clinician expertise in specialized rehabilitation practice areas can be challenging, and requires effective education and learning strategies. To widen the scope of this series, this article looks at education and learning models, how to develop and assess them, and their value in practice. This article provides an example relevant to any specialized learning. Content: The authors use the example of paediatric feeding and swallowing difficulties (dysphagia) to describe the evaluation and exploration of the education and learning models at two paediatric agencies in British Columbia, Canada. These models are designed to support occupational therapists and speech language pathologists in developing expertise for performing videofuoroscopic swallow studies (VFSS), a component of a comprehensive paediatric dysphagia evaluation. Clinicians involved in providing specialized paediatric dysphagia services, including VFSS, were engaged in this study through a participatory action research approach. Data on current education and learning models and clinicians’ experiences were collected through questionnaires and a focus group. Results identified three interconnected themes: ‘dynamic and interactive learning is necessary to refect the complex and changing practice environment’; ‘supports and resources provide infrastructure to enhance learning’; and ‘personal characteristics influence learning.’ Conclusions: Findings from this preliminary participatory action research study suggest that education and learning models to facilitate the development of clinician expertise in paediatric VFSS should consider employing a multi-faceted approach in which the necessary supports, resources and interactive learning environments are available for both new and experienced clinicians.