Teaching Clinical Skills Online: Techniques, Student Feedback, and Lesson Learned

Abstract

The use of online education has long been used in occupational therapy for both post professional and continuing education. In entry level programs, however, strict online education is not common due to the intensive clinical skills that the students must obtain. These are typically taught in lab format with consistent practice and faculty feedback. Due to the COVID 19 epidemic, many universities were forced to make a rapid transition to online learning with little preparatory time. While it is believed that many courses were conducive to this change in format, instructors of clinical skills courses were forced to identify creative and alternative methods of teaching and evaluating the hands-on skills. This paper outlines pedagogy used during the pandemic in teaching clinical skills, both physical and thinking, and students’ responses to the online learning process. Evidence is scarce and does not fully encompass the concept of full clinical skills teaching in an online format. The need for further advancement in this area is highlighted along with potential methods to begin to shape online clinical skills learning.