Transforming simulation in clinical education: is pre-placement hybrid learning valuable to healthcare students?

Abstract

Innovation in clinical learning is reported as being useful in preparing health and social care students for clinical patient care, but historically these learners have relied on traditional pedagogies including didactic classroom learning and apprenticeship "practice" on live patients in a clinical environment. This paper investigates whether students find it useful to augment traditional learning methods with simulation and video (hybrid learning) as a pre-junct to learning in clinical placement. Replacing the usual initial clinical placement with a 12-week study block employing hybrid-teaching techniques reformed the traditional curriculum for Operating Department Practitioner students. An interpretative phenomenographic methodology was adopted for this study and data was collected through anonymous focus group interviews. The data support two concepts that 1) confidence and self-belief perpetuate the desire for new learning and 2) multi-professional learning develops a professional approach in terms of communication, care intervention and thinking processes. The data presented was obtained using a qualitative phenomenographic approach and the results infer specific advantages of hybrid learning to the participants to supplement traditional teaching methods by addressing theoretical limitations of learning and inequity of placement experiential learning. Limitations to this study are the absence of a control group to directly compare against apprenticeship learning methods alone and the sample group being single site, single cohort.

Clinical simulation practise framework

“…According to the literature, despite the growing advancement in teaching and learning strategies, students are still facing challenges in applying their theoretical knowledge in real practice, which could be because of the students' perceived lack of competence and confi dence in performing integrated holistic care and treatment. 3 For CSP to be successful in fi lling the gap, as with any other teaching and learning strategy, the design and management of the simulation is crucial. 2,4,5 Designing and implementing simulated case scenarios are becoming an integrated component of an educator ' s role, and so educators are looking for best practice in using simulation in their education.…”

“…Clinical simulation practise (CSP) holds great potential to derive a positive transformation in students’ learning by creating interactive bridges between theory and practice. According to the literature, despite the growing advancement in teaching and learning strategies, students are still facing challenges in applying their theoretical knowledge in real practice, which could be because of the students’ perceived lack of competence and confidence in performing integrated holistic care and treatment . For CSP to be successful in filling the gap, as with any other teaching and learning strategy, the design and management of the simulation is crucial .…”

“…With current changes in student and patient populations, professional regulations and clinical environments, however, many educational and professional experts believe that skill laboratories are no longer suffi cient (although necessary) in preparing students for the transition to a demanding ever-changing workplace. [1][2][3][4][5] Students in the health professions, like professionals in the fi eld, are required to take on increasingly complex care management in real workplaces that 'require a much higher level of critical thinking and clinical judgement skills than in the past' . 1 With the advancement of both simulation technology and educational pedagogy, educators and curriculum developers have been provided with an opportunity to extend students' clinical practice experiences by creating simulated 'real-life' clinical settings during their educational tenure.…”

“…1 With the advancement of both simulation technology and educational pedagogy, educators and curriculum developers have been provided with an opportunity to extend students' clinical practice experiences by creating simulated 'real-life' clinical settings during their educational tenure. [1][2][3] Clinical simulation practise (CSP), like real clinical practice, requires students to integrate and apply their critical thinking, clinical judgement, prioritisation, problem solving, decision making and teamwork abilities, along with their theoretical knowledge and hands-on skills, to provide holistic care and treatment to their patients. [1][2][3][4] Clinical simulation practise (CSP) could take three different formats, from low to high fi delities, depending on the simulator features and complexity.…”

“…[1][2][3] Clinical simulation practise (CSP), like real clinical practice, requires students to integrate and apply their critical thinking, clinical judgement, prioritisation, problem solving, decision making and teamwork abilities, along with their theoretical knowledge and hands-on skills, to provide holistic care and treatment to their patients. [1][2][3][4] Clinical simulation practise (CSP) could take three different formats, from low to high fi delities, depending on the simulator features and complexity. Computerised human patient simulators (HPSs), with an increased level of sophistication and realism, provide highfi delity simulation with realistic lifelike manikins.…”