Student-Led Clinics in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Scoping Review with Stakeholder Consultation

Abstract

Background Student-led clinics have gained increasing attention as a mechanism for students across various health professions to gain authentic interprofessional clinical placement experience during their educational programme. Purpose This scoping review is designed to identify and describe experiences relating to student-led clinics in Aotearoa New Zealand. Methods The review involved five key steps: 1) identifying the research question; 2) identifying relevant studies; 3) study selection; 4) charting the data; and 5) collating, summarising and reporting the results. Discussion Student-led health clinics present invaluable educational opportunities for authentic collaborative practice and capacity to improve population health and well-being, especially in marginalised and disadvantaged communities. Clinic establishment and operation require consideration of a complex set of factors. Conclusion Community consultation (including with Indigenous populations) should precede establishment of clinics. There is scope for more reporting and objective evaluation to ensure best practice is being determined, developed, and achieved.

School‐based multidisciplinary student‐led clinics in health and Australian accreditation standards: A scoping review

“…With no formal guidance on the planning and management of student‐led clinics, universities are left to learn from the experience of others when designing student‐led programs. Careful planning is needed to overcome the common challenges, 32 such as funding, infrastructure and student‐related issues, including a lack of supervisory time and working within a multidisciplinary team. Strategies used to mitigate these obstacles have included measuring the impact of service delivery outcomes to secure funding, 32 the necessity of pre‐placement interprofessional learning and measuring students' readiness to help counteract negative perceptions and attitudes towards interprofessional collaboration 53 .…”

“…Careful planning is needed to overcome the common challenges, 32 such as funding, infrastructure and student‐related issues, including a lack of supervisory time and working within a multidisciplinary team. Strategies used to mitigate these obstacles have included measuring the impact of service delivery outcomes to secure funding, 32 the necessity of pre‐placement interprofessional learning and measuring students' readiness to help counteract negative perceptions and attitudes towards interprofessional collaboration 53 . The lack of guidance in the planning and management of student‐led clinics highlights the importance of documenting, within the academic literature, a description of work‐integrated learning activities, the challenges associated with specific learning activities, how these activities were undertaken, as well as the processes followed to meet supervision and accreditation standards 18 …”

“…The results indicated that these placements offer disadvantaged communities the opportunity to access services and improve their health and well-being. 32 A further systematic review reporting on the participation of health students in student-led clinics found that highly positive experiences led to improved academic outcomes and improved skills in interprofessional collaboration. 18 Meanwhile, in a review of student-led clinics servicing patients with cardiovascular disease, the care delivered by health students was comparable to that of health professionals.…”

“…A recent scoping review focused on the experiences of health students participating in student‐led clinics in New Zealand. The results indicated that these placements offer disadvantaged communities the opportunity to access services and improve their health and well‐being 32 . A further systematic review reporting on the participation of health students in student‐led clinics found that highly positive experiences led to improved academic outcomes and improved skills in interprofessional collaboration 18 …”

Determining a common understanding of interprofessional competencies for pre-registration health professionals in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Delphi study

“…One approach internationally to transforming health curricula and enhancing the development of interprofessional practice has been the introduction of student-assisted or student-led clinics (21)(22)(23). One such project, He Kaupapa Oranga Tahi, based in Hamilton, New Zealand, was initiated with the aim of promoting and integrating IPE.…”