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Victorian Department of Human Services - Clinical Placement ProjectProject TitleReducing the clinical placement burden on health services - creating a contemporary model of simulated clinical education using innovative teaching methods for multiple health care professions. OverviewClinical education is an integral part of undergraduate health care education. A significant proportion of the undergraduate health care preparation and reinforcement of clinical theory in the university sector involves the opportunity for experience in a variety of clinical placement settings. Health care students undertaking the Bachelor of Emergency Health (Paramedic) (BEH), Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (BOT) and Bachelor of Physiotherapy (BPT) degrees undertake many weeks in numerous acute and non-acute health care settings that usually occur in environments other than their university. These external health care venues include areas such as clinical emergency departments, intensive care units, surgical wards, emergency ambulances, rehabilitation facilities and community health care centres. Clinical rotations are compulsory units of study and are pre-requisites to several of the clinical subjects offered in the BEH, BOT, and BPT degree programs. Completing a specific number of fieldwork hours in a variety of clinical settings are also compulsory for registration purposes specific to the professions of occupational therapy and physiotherapy. With the development of the new health sciences programs at Monash University Peninsula campus, namely Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy and Paramedic studies, the social, economic and cultural trends are viewed as opportunities for thinking about a new way of providing clinical placement education. It is anticipated this will ensure graduates of these programs are able to have ongoing relevance, innovation, flexibility, cultural awareness, creativity, cost-effectiveness and enhanced quality of service in the health care industry. Despite the BEH, BOT and BPT degree programs at Monash Peninsula being relatively new, the continued growth and interest in these programs (for example, it is expected that the combined BEH, BOT and BPT programs will accommodate up to 640 students by 2008) has emphasised the pragmatic realisation that clinical placement availability, feasibility, structure and costs is going to be a new, ongoing and systematic burden on the health service providers. To alleviate this encumbrance and exploit the capacity of information technology (IT) applications, the development of a contemporary model of workforce education is proposed. A contemporary model of interprofessional education (IPE) is proposed to capture clinical simulated scenarios relevant to allied health professions expected during their specific clinical placements. The simulated case scenarios will be produced with audio-visual capacity through the Alfred Hospital Simulation Centre, MUCAPS Simulation Centre, local community health care centres and rehabilitation facilities affiliated with Peninsula Health, home environments of clients and school/early intervention centres in the Frankston area. A total of 9 simulated cases will be integrated into normal teaching semester time and will be created using human actors and simulators (where/where required) and include authentic clinical scenarios which will be scripted to ensure an objective broad cross-section of emergency health syndromes are covered in a clinical environment. The simulated cases may include, but not limited to the following diagnostic categories: mental health, head injury, acute asthma, acute myocardial infarction, fractured femur and hypoglycaemia. Cases will be undertaken with an IPE focus, this will ensure that students will visualise elements of IPE in simulated clinical settings. Presentations will take place in a variety of environments to ensure students see how other health professions undertake their clinical practice. Two additional specific scenarios will be developed where patients will be shown in a longitudinal paradigm or ‘step-process’ from the incident scene to emergency department to acute care hospital wards to rehabilitation. This will not only ensure authenticity of clinical cases and management but importantly ‘map’ the activities and requirements (in a simulated manner) normally undertaken on undergraduate clinical placement rotations. This will provide them with a comprehensive overview of the continuum of client care from a multi-professional role and reduce the clinical observation time for this large cohort of students. Scenarios will be recorded and produced with normal audio-visual features, postproduction will occur to convert simulation into a digitalised format. Scenarios will be used throughout normal semester periods making explicit links to clinical placement settings and learning objectives. Scenarios will be presented via a learning management system (LMS), in this case WebCT. Case simulated scenarios will be uploaded at designated intervals and accessed via WebCT using normal student username and password. Opportunities will also be provided with ‘live’ or ‘synchronous’ support being provided in designated times during the day and after hours between Monday and Friday. This ‘live’ communication will be provided in WebCT chat room facilities and/or in software programs such as Marratech (presently used by Monash University). Case simulations will be moderated by academic and clinical staff in WebCT. Teaching staff from paramedic studies, occupational therapy and physiotherapy will provide theoretical and practical support where required. Specific questions will target specific learning needs and clinical objectives. Direct application and connection will be made emphasising the importance of connecting the theory to the practice or ‘educational praxis’. This proposal is seen as being a valid educational alternative to reduce some of the strain on clinical placements by providing virtual clinical scenarios that could be used as a replacement for actual clinical placements. This virtual clinical orientation will reduce competition for clinical placement spots, increase collaborative opportunities and overcome the use for multiple clinical sites and provide better coordination of clinical resources. This proposal also provides an alternative model of workforce education, incorporating contemporary IPE principles, whilst utilising innovative IT strategies allowing large-scale clinical opportunities across Victoria. This proposal also has applicability in both urban and rural environments where students complete clinical placements. Finally, this proposal allows clients from a variety of backgrounds, diagnostic groups and age groups to be included in the case simulations. DHS Health Workforce Web SiteProject Steering Committee
Project Management Committee
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