- Title
- Evaluation of an alternative placement model to address quality in clinical learning in diagnostic radiography education
- Creator
- Tessier, John
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2019
- Description
- Masters Research - Master of Philosophy (Mphil)
- Description
- Professional placement is a vital and compulsory component in the training of health professionals. Professional practice assists students to demonstrate that they have met the national registration/accreditation standard required as an entry level practitioner in their field of health and medicine. Therefore the goal of any health professional program is to provide high quality professional placements to all students. This research explores the professional placement component of the undergraduate diagnostic radiography program at the University of Newcastle, Australia. The origins of the research developed from a concern that with significant increases in student enrolments into the diagnostic radiography program that the long‐standing traditional full‐time block placement format would not be able to support enough high quality placements. The aim of the research reported in this thesis was to investigate an alternate placement model for diagnostic radiography students at the University of Newcastle, which provides a quality placement experience for an increasing number of students commencing the program. An action research methodology was used to bring together students, clinical supervisors and academic staff, who worked together to develop, implement, assess and refine a new part‐time professional placement model. Direct communication, purposefully designed questionnaires, focus groups, structured interviews and conference presentations were used to gather input for the research. Multiple studies and analyses were undertaken including a pilot study examining the feasibility of an alternate placement format, and studies focusing on student and clinical supervisor perspectives of the developing part‐time placement model. The dynamic and cyclic nature of this research was made possible by the action research methodology. In summary, an alternate part‐time placement format was developed and embedded within the program. The part‐time placement option produced benefits for both students and supervisors. Benefits included a reduced financial burden for students, an increased ability for students to undertake a placement pattern that supported their personal lifestyle limitations (e.g. caring and living arrangements), as well as greater rostering flexibility for supervisors. The new placement option increased the likelihood of students receiving a preferred placement site. This research revealed a greater appreciation and understanding of not only the placement period, but also the factors that contribute to an effective placement. Multiple phases of research included adjustments to placement formats and the evaluation of these modifications. A pilot study was used during the initial phase of research with feedback obtained from students and supervisors. This initial phase confirmed that an alternate placement format was possible without detriment to students or placement sites. The second and fourth phases of research concentrated of the student perspective using purpose-built questionnaires, focus groups and structured interviews. The results highlighted areas that could impede the performance of the student as well as areas that could enhance student performance. Similarly phase three, which focused on the perspective of the placement supervisors, provided input that highlighted organizational changes that benefitted both the placement sites and the students. The findings of this research should be of interest to all contributors to the education of health professionals and have implications for future research in the area of professional placement.
- Subject
- diagnostic radiography; professional placement; action research; placement format; clinical
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1400460
- Identifier
- uon:34772
- Rights
- Copyright 2019 John Tessier
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 4 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 974 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |