Supervising Students During a Global Pandemic: Clinical Educators’ Perceptions of a Student-Led Telerehabilitation Service During COVID-19

Abstract

Scope: In March 2020, COVID-19 restrictions prompted services delivered by student-led clinics in the university sector to transition to telehealth. This provided a unique opportunity to explore the challenges and opportunities faced by clinical educators when supervising students to deliver telehealth. Methodology: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with allied health clinical educators who supervised students on clinical placement who were required to provide services via telehealth. Clinical educators across the disciplines of audiology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and speech pathology were asked to reflect on their experiences and perceptions of the rapid transition to a telehealth model for student clinical placements. A content analysis approach was used to analyse qualitative data. Conclusions: From the perspective of clinical educators, student-led telehealth services can effectively meet client needs while achieving student learning outcomes. This study highlights many opportunities for student learning via telehealth in the clinical education environment and the role of the clinical educator in the learning experience.

Learning Outcomes from Participation in Student-Run Health Clinics: A Systematic Review

“… X ? Ng et al (2020) 57 Focus groups ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ O’Connor et al (2018) 58 SS one-on-one interviews ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Passmore et al (2016) 72 SS one-on-one interviews ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Ross et al (2022) 52 SS one-on-one interviews ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Sakamoto (2022) 53 SS one-on-one interviews ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Scott et al (2015) 96 Open-ended questions ✓ ✓ ✓ ? ✓ X ✓ Stickler et al (2013) 42 Focus groups ✓ ✓ …”

Analysis of a model for pediatric physical therapy and clinical education via telehealth

“…Entry-level programs must therefore consider this shift towards increased telerehabilitation exposure when designing curricula to prepare future clinicians. Clinical educators across multiple disciplines believe that services delivered via student-led telehealth can meet the client's needs and also achieve student learning outcomes [41]. Interestingly, a concern of clinical education via telehealth was a perceived decrease in efficiency when telehealth sessions were led by individual students.…”

“…Interestingly, a concern of clinical education via telehealth was a perceived decrease in efficiency when telehealth sessions were led by individual students. Specifically, educators felt that more time was needed to supervise students [41]. However, the clinicians believed that student preparation for telehealth prior to clinical placements was critical [41].…”

“…Specifically, educators felt that more time was needed to supervise students [41]. However, the clinicians believed that student preparation for telehealth prior to clinical placements was critical [41]. A recent qualitative case analysis of a collaborative pediatric PT clinical learning experience (CLE) integrated into the didactic curriculum with peerto-peer learning provided a potential model for the integration of telehealth clinical education into entrylevel PT curriculum [18].…”