Supporting clinical educators in interprofessional placements: Lessons from an international experience

Introduction/background:
Establishing skills in collaborative health practice is seen as critical to developi
ng allied health (AH) professionals who are able to practice within patient centred models of care. Embedding inter-professional (IP) experiences within clinical placements enables AH students to develop authentic collaborative skills. IP placements, however, add challenges for Clinical Educators (CEs) around aspects such as managing students’ perceptions; limited guidance on assessing students from other professions; and need for increased collaboration between staff. One method of supporting CEs can be the use of a well
-designed, IP supervisory and assessment model which addresses these issues.
Aim/objectives: The aim of this research was to analyse the strengths and challenges of an IP approach to supervising and assessing undergraduate AH students on their clinical placement in Vietnam.
Discussion:
Four AH professions were involved in developing, trialling and refining over a period of 4 years, a core skills IP assessment approach and tool for a final year IP placement in Vietnam for AH students. All CE’s who had participated in the program were invited to attend a focus group session to evaluate the strengths and challenges of this innovated approach.
Issues for exploration:
This paper explores those aspects of the shared supervisory and assessment approach which supported the CE’s confidence and skills in assessing students from other disciplines, including:
complete collaboration at all levels; joint IP assessment using a tool which they had been involved in developing; articulated key priorities; focus on the student learning journey; program leadership; and ongoing reflective practice.