Simulation-based Learning Experiences in Stuttering Management Delivered Online: What Do Students, Clinical Educators and Simulated Patients Think?

Speech pathology students are required to demonstrate competency across a range of practice areas. There are, however, limited opportunities for students to access clinical placements in the area of stuttering. Simulation-based learning (SBL) activities have proven to be effective in increasing students' clinical experience in this area. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the delivery of in-person SBL programs was not feasible, resulting in a shift to online provision. The aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions of students, clinical educators and simulated patients who participated in an online adult stuttering SBL experience. Ten first-year graduate entry Masters program speech pathology students participated in the study alongside four clinical educators and four simulated patients. The experience involved two online SBL sessions and one online tutorial via videoconferencing from separate locations. Each participant group engaged in focus group interviews exploring their perceptions of the online SBL activity. Thematic network analysis of the focus group interview data was conducted. Overall interpretation of the data from the perspectives of students, clinical educators and simulated patients revealed an overarching global theme that online SBL offers a positive, comfortable and comparable experience to enable students to build client-centred, clinical and telepractice skills. The positive outcomes of this study suggest that together with in-person clinical experiences, online SBL has an important role in the education of speech pathology students. © 2022 Adriana Penman, Monique Waite, Anne E. Hill, Taliesha-Jayne Leslie, Brooke-Mai Whelan & Andrea Whitehead. This Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Attribution-Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is unaltered.

The support needs of health professional educators to teach clinical skills online: Experiences of COVID-19 lockdowns from three countries

Introduction: Supporting educators has been identified as vital for the efficacy and sustainability of online teaching. The teaching of clinical skills online presents additional challenges given the vast shift from traditional pedagogies. However, the support needs of health professional educators to teach clinical skills online are unknown. The aim of this study was to explore educator experiences of teaching clinical skills online and investigate their workplace support needs. Methods: A qualitative approach using focus groups was used to investigate educator experiences at three universities in Australia, Chile and South Africa. Data were subject to thematic analysis, and a thematic network tool was used to triangulate international experiences. Results: Seven focus groups were undertaken, with a total of 32 participants. Four global themes were identified following analysis: 1) the educator experience, 2) changes to pedagogy, 3) challenges to teaching online and 4) support for educators. Conclusions: This study has highlighted the professional challenges that teaching clinical skills online creates for health professional educators and the uncertainty regarding expectations and outcomes. Enhancing university support for educators to prepare and provide clinical skills teaching online is suggested to mitigate these challenges. Recommendations are made for universities and educators to consider in the pursuit of effective and sustainable teaching of clinical skills online.