How do you know your teaching has been effective? A process of evaluation needs to be established to ensure that students have achieved their learning objectives and patient/client services are optimal. Evaluation is part of an ongoing cycle of development whereby opportunities for improvement are identified (process, organisational, personal), action taken and outcomes re-evaluated. Typical means of evaluation may be:
- formal academic results of students,
- feedback from learners,
- And reflection on, and analysis of processes and practices.
Evaluating clinical supervisor skills
The student/s have left, the placement is over…What now? This is the time to learn from your experiences, reflect on what has happened and continue to develop your clinical supervision skills for future student placements.
Supervisor self-reflection
It is important for a supervisor to reflect on their placement experience to identify areas where development might further their clinical supervision skills and gain confidence in continued, edge, skills and confidence to support allied health student placements.
Student supervisor self-reflection might include evaluation of knowledge, skills and confidence in:
- Preparation and planning of the student placement
- Facilitation of the learning process
- Ability to problem solve
- Communication skills and styles
- Quality and Safety
- Meeting organisational demands
Depending on your setting, you may wish to develop your own guided evaluation and reflection. Alternatively, you can use existing tools, some examples are provided below:
- Clinical Learning Education and Research Service (CLEaRS), Northern Territory Government Allied Health Clinical Educator Skills Review
- Curtin University – Strategies for Fieldwork Supervisors
- Health Education and Training (HETI)- My Training Space – Self assessment tool
- HETI Superguide
- Maastricht Questionnaire for supervisors
- The Northern Territory Regional Training Network – Clinical Supervision Self Assessment Tool
- SA Health Allied Health Clinical Supervision Framework
Student feedback tools to aid supervisor self-reflection
Seeking feedback from learners can be a first step in assisting a student supervisor reflect on their supervisory skills. Feedback could be sought from the student on:
- Adequacy of introduction and orientation
- Learning goals and performance expectations
- Placement elements, for example case load and volume
- Adequacy of supervision, for example access to supervisor, type and frequency of informal and formal supervision activities
- Type and frequency of feedback
- Ability to work as part of a department or multidisciplinary team
- Adequacy of the physical environment to support learning
- The best elements of the placement
- The best elements of supervision
- Areas for improvement for placement and/or supervision
Again, depending on your setting, you may wish to develop an evaluation tool, or access existing examples, some of which are included below:
- Clinical Placement Quality Survey (CPQS-S) - a psychometrically robust survey designed to evaluate allied health students’ perception of placement
- Clinical Learning Education and Research Service (CLEaRS), Northern Territory Government Student Feedback Survey
- Maastricht Questionnaire for students
Assessment of placement quality
- Clinical Placement Quality Survey (CPQS-S) - The CPQS-S is a valid and reliable tool for evaluating allied health students’ perception of a quality clinical placement experience, underpinned by current best practice frameworks. The CPQS-S provides all stakeholders with an easily scalable and objective method for evaluating placement quality to engage in quality improvement processes. Further information is found at: Jones, T., Kirwan, G. W., Howells, S., & Hams, A. (2022). Clinical Placement Quality Survey–Student (CPQS-S): A tool to evaluate allied health placement quality. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 23(4), 579-593. https://www.ijwil.org/files/IJWIL_23_4_579_593.pdf
- A suite of placement quality resources has been developed, supported by the Sydney Integrated Clinical Training Network and the University of Sydney Education Innovation Grant. These tools gather perceptions of placement from four stakeholder groups: Students , Clinical (Academic), Clinical (Supervisors) and Placement Site Managers. The student survey has been validated. Further information is found at: McAllister, L., Nagarajan, S., Scott, L., Smith, L., & Thomson, K. (2018). ‘Developing measures of placement quality in allied health, dentistry, medicine, and pharmacy’. International Journal of Practice-based Learning in Health and Social Care, 6 (2), 31–47. https://doi.org/10.18552/ijpblhsc.v6i2.493
Evaluating supervisor performance and resources to support professional development
In addition to the examples above there are also a series of resources that can aid the professional development of clinical supervisors through content, reflection and online learning. Some of these include:
- National Clinical Supervision Competency Resource in Victoria The National Clinical Supervision Competency Resource describes the core competencies of clinical supervision, across all allied health professions, settings and sectors, and provides access to a variety of resources using different mediums, including the Clinical Supervision Skills Review Tool
- Western Australia Clinical Training Network – provides training and development opportunities for clinical supervisors with identified development needs and hosts the On Track eLearning package which provides insight into evaluating student placements
- Northern Territory Regional Training Network – Clinical Supervision Support Program provides targeted supervision support activities with a focus on regional and remote clinical supervision
- SA Health – Professional Development and Training in Allied Health provides a series of resources relating to allied health student placements and clinical supervision
- Health Education and Training (HETI) Clinical Supervision Training Space – provides a range of resources designed to improve clinical supervision
Useful ClinEdAus links
Once you have reflected on the placement, it is an ideal time to start planning for future placements. Visit: Preparing for and Managing Clinical Placements
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