Perceptions of occupational therapy students and clinical tutors on the attributes of a good role model

Clinical teachers' perceptions of role modeling: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Role modeling has been significantly considered in medical education in recent decades. In the clinical course, students learn necessary skills and accordingly their professional identity is formed by observing and working among clinical educators. Given the importance of the role modeling in medical education, in the present study, it was attempted to explore the clinical teachers' perceptions of being a role model for medical students using a qualitative method.

METHODS

A qualitative design, based on the content analysis approach, was used to analyze the perspectives of 15 clinical teachers. Participants were chosen by purposeful sampling. Data were collected using reflection paper writing.

RESULTS

During the data analysis, five main categories emerged: influencing others, developing different dimensions of student, situational self-awareness, feedback and continuous effort.

CONCLUSIONS

This study will be useful to form role modeling educational programs. Encouraging clinical teachers to make continuous efforts to improve role modeling and educating time management and self-control skills can help reduce the challenges of role modeling for clinical teachers.

Using an International Role-Modeling Pedagogy to Engage First-Year Occupational Therapy Students in Learning Professionalism

IMPORTANCE

Professionalism is a core attribute for competent occupational therapists, but teaching professionalism to students is challenging for educators.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate whether students can expand their understanding of professionalism by engaging with international role models.

DESIGN

Pretest-posttest.

SETTING

One academic institution in Hong Kong.

PARTICIPANTS

First-year students (N = 102) enrolled in an introductory occupational therapy course.

INTERVENTION

An international role-modeling pedagogy was informally embedded into a course curriculum. Students were divided into 16 groups and collaboratively interviewed eight role models (academic theory or practice model developers) to understand their inspiration and ideas about occupational therapy competence.

OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

In addition to pre- and postclass surveys, students completed individual self-reflection reports as a course assignment. A postsemester focus group was also held.

RESULTS

Sixty-three students completed the surveys, and 5 attended the focus group. The students showed significant improvements in their understanding of professionalism after the course (Wilcoxon signed rank Zs = 5.671-6.766, p < .001). Interviewing the role models enabled the students to become more aware of intrinsic aspects of professionalism. Major themes in the student focus group included gaining a better understanding of professionalism and committing to personal change. Some implementation challenges were also experienced.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

International experts (theory or practice model developers) can be integrated into occupational therapy curricula as role models to enhance the teaching of professionalism to students.

WHAT THIS ARTICLE ADDS

Interviewing international role models who have developed theories or practice models can enhance student learning in the area of professionalism and complement traditional approaches to clinical education.

Intra- and interprofessional practices through fresh eyes: a qualitative analysis of medical students' early workplace experiences

BACKGROUND

Professional identities are influenced by experiences in the clinical workplace including socialisation processes that may be hidden from academic faculty and potentially divergent from formal curricula. With the current educational emphasis on complexity, preparedness for practice, patient safety and team-working it is necessary to evaluate and respond to what students are learning about collaborative practices during their clinical placements.

METHODS

394 second year medical students at a London medical school were invited to submit a short formative essay as part of their coursework describing, evaluating and reflecting on their experiences of how healthcare professionals work together. Their experiences were derived from having spent two days each week for 25 weeks in clinical contexts across primary and secondary care. We consented 311 participants and used a Consensual Qualitative Research approach to analyse these essays, creating a 'students-eye view' of intra- and interprofessional practices in the workplace.

RESULTS

We identified four overarching themes in students' essays:Theme 1: analyses of contextual factors driving team tensions including staff shortages, shifting teams, and infrastructural issues;Theme 2: observations of hierarchical and paternalistic attitudes and behaviours;Theme 3: respect for team members' ability to manage and mitigate tensions and attitudes; andTheme 4: take-forward learning including enthusiasm for quality improvement and system change.

CONCLUSIONS

Students are being socialised into a complex, hierarchical, pressurised clinical workplace and experience wide variations in professional behaviours and practices. They articulate a need to find constructive ways forward in the interests of staff wellbeing and patient care. We present educational recommendations including providing safe reflective spaces, using students' lived experience as raw material for systems thinking and quality improvement, and closing the feedback loop with placement sites on behalf of students.