Stepping out of the shadows: Allied health student and academic perceptions of the impact of a service-learning experience on student's work-readiness and employability.

Debra Jones; Lindy McAllister; David Lyle

doi:10.21153/jtlge2015vol6no1art574

Authors

Debra Jones University of Sydney, Australia
Lindy McAllister University of Sydney, Australia
David Lyle University of Sydney, Australia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21153/jtlge2015vol6no1art574

Keywords:

Work Integrated Learning, work-readiness, inter professional learning, service learning

Abstract

Universities, health services and health students have a vested interest in the development of work-ready graduates to improve employment prospects, standards of practice and healthcare outcomes. Work integrated learning supports the transition of theoretical knowledge into professional practice, thus preparing students for their work following graduation. The positive impact of practice experiences on work-readiness and employability is largely assumed. This paper describes the impact of participation in a rural Australian service-learning program on student and academic perceptions of work-readiness and future employability. Qualitative data was gathered from allied health students who participated in inter-professional focus groups and allied health academics who participated in individual interviews. The findings indicate that students were challenged in transitioning from being observational or highly directed learners, described as [being in the] 'shadows' or 'shadowing', to semi-autonomous healthcare providers. Participants reported enhanced perceptions of future employability through 'real work' experiences and identified broader program implications for universities and students. Based on participant experiences, service-learning, a relatively new educational pedagogy in rural health education in Australia, may provide universities, health services, and students with an alternative to acute hospital placements in the development of work-ready attributes for new graduate allied health practitioners.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

Author Biographies

Debra Jones, University of Sydney, Australia

Director Primary Health Care, Broken Hill University Department of Rural Health, The University of Sydney.
Lindy McAllister, University of Sydney, Australia

Professor and Associate Dean Work Integrated Learning, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney.
David Lyle, University of Sydney, Australia

Professor and Head of Department, Broken Hill University Department of Rural Health, The University of Sydney.

References

Australian Interprofessional Practice and Education Network. Online glossary. Retrieved from http://www.aippen.net/what-is-ipe-ipl-ipp

Allied Health Professionals Australia. (2013). Policy paper: Australia’s workforce of allied health professionals. Canberra: AHPA.

Arum, R. & Roksa, J. (2011). Academically adrift: Limited learning on college campuses. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Cashman, S. & Seifer, S. (2008). Service-learning: An integral part of undergraduate public health. American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 35(3), 273–278.

Creswell, J. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). London: Sage Publications.

Deaville, J. & Grant, A. (2011). Overcoming the pull factor of convenient urban-livingPerceptions of rural practice. Medical Teacher. 33: e11–e217.

Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research & Tertiary Education (DIISRTE), and Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR). (2013). Core Skills for Work Framework. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.

Department of Health and Aging (DoHA). (2010). National Primary Health Care Strategic Framework. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.

Durning,S., Artino, A., Pangaro, L., van der Vleuten, C., & Schuwirth, L. (2011). Context and clinical reasoning. Advances in Health Science Education, 45(9), 927–938.

Eyler, J. & Giles, D. (1999). Where’s the learning in service-learning? San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Forster, L., Assareh, H., Watts, L., & McLachlan, C. (2013). Additional years of Australian Rural Clinical School undergraduate training is associated with rural practice. BMC Medical Education, 13(37). Retrieved from http://www.biomedcentral.com/14726920/13/37

Freeth, D., Hammick, M., Reeves, S., Koppel, I., & Barr, H. (Ed.). (2005). Effective interprofessional education: Development, delivery & evaluation. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Frenk, J., Chen, L., Bhutta, Z., Cohen, J., Crisp, N., Evans, S., & Zurayk, H. (2010). Health professionals for a new century: Transforming education to strengthen health systems in an interdependent world. The Lancet, 376(9756), 1923–1958 Retrieved from http://www.thelancet.com

Furco, A. (1996). Service-learning: A balanced approach to experiential education. Expanding boundaries: Service and learning. Washington DC: Corporation for National Service, 2–6.

Hartigan-Rogers, J., Cobbett, S., Amirault, M., & Muise-Davis, M. (2007). Nursing graduates' perceptions of their undergraduate clinical placement. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 4(1), 1–14.

Health Workforce Australia. (2013a). A Framework for Effective Clinical Placements in Rural and Remote Primary Health Care. Adelaide: HWA.

Health Workforce Australia. (2013b). National Rural and Remote Heath Workforce Innovation and Reform Strategy. Adelaide: HWA.

Herrington, T. & Herrington, J. (Eds.). (2006). Authentic learning environments in higher education. Melbourne: Information Science Publishing.

Howell, D., Devine, N. & Prostman, L. (2004). An interdisciplinary learning experience through applied clinical practice with community volunteers. Journal of Allied Health, 33(3), 205–209.

Jacoby, B. (Ed.). (2003). Building partnerships for service-learning. San Francisco: Wiley & Sons.

Jackson, D. (2010). An international profile of industry-relevant competencies and skill gaps in modern graduates. International Journal of Management Education, 8(3), 29–8.

Jones, D., McAllister, L., Lyle, D., Brunero, C., Webb, T., & Riley, S. (2015). Improving health and education outcomes for children in remote communities: A cross-sector and developmental evaluation approach. International Journal of Community Research and Engagement, 8(1), 1–22.

Keys, L. (1994). Action learning: Executive development of choice for the 1990’s. Journal of Management Development, 13(8), 50–56.

Kindig, D. & Stoddart, G. (2003). What is population health? American Journal of Public Health. 93(3), 380–383

Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.

Kramer, M. & Usher, A. (2011). Work-integrated learning and career-ready students: Examining the evidence. Toronto: Higher Education Strategy Associates.

Kuipers, P., Pager, S., Bell, K., Hall, F., & Kendall, M. (2013). Do structured arrangements for multidisciplinary peer group supervision make a difference for allied health professional outcomes? Journal of Multidisciplinary Care, 6, 391–397.

McAllister, L. & Rose, M. (2008). Speech-language pathology students: Learning clinical reasoning. In J. Higgs, M. Jones, S. Loftus, & N. Christensen. (Eds.), Clinical Reasoning in the Health Professions, (397–404). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

McAllister, L., Paterson, M., Higgs, J., & Bithell, C. (2010). (Eds.). Innovations in allied health fieldwork education: A critical appraisal. Boston: Sense Publishers.

Mason, J. (2013). Review of Australian government health workforce programs. Retrieved from: https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/D26858F4B68834EACA 257BF0001A8DDC/$File/Review%20of%20Health%20Workforce%20programs.pdf

Miles, B., Huberman, M., & Saldana, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (3rd Edition). London: Sage Publications.

Miller, T. & Gallicchio, V. (2007). Allied health professionals with 2020 vision. Journal of Allied Health, 36(4), 236–240.

Newton, J., Billet, S., Jolly, B., & Ockerby, C. (2009a). Lost in translation: Barriers to learning in the health professional clinical education. Learning in Health and Social Care, 8(4), 315–327.

Nisbet, G., Lee, A., Kumar, K., Thistlethwaite, J., & Dunston, R. (2011). Interprofessional health education. A literature review: Overview of international and Australian developments in interprofessional health education. University of Technology Sydney: Centre for Research in Learning and Change.

Norman, G. (2005). Research in clinical reasoning. Medical Education, 39(4), 418–427. Patton, M. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation (3rd Ed.). London: Sage Publications.

Plack, M. (2008). The learning triad: Potential barriers and supports to learning in the physical therapy clinical environment. Journal of Physical Therapy Education, 22(3), 7– 18.

Rodger, S., Webb, G., Devitt, L., Gilbert, J., Wrightson, P. & McMeeken, J. (2008). Clinical education and practice placements in the allied health professions: An international perspective. Journal of Allied Health, 37(1), 53–62.

Rodger, S., Fitzgerald, C., Davila, W., Millar, F., & Allison, H. (2011). What makes a quality occupational therapy practice placement? Students’ and practice educators’ perspectives. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 58(3), 195–202.

Seifer, S. (1998). Service-learning: Community-campus partnerships for health professions education. Academic Medicine, 73(3), 273–77.

Sharp, M., Reynolds, R., & Brooks, K. (2013). Critical thinking skills of allied health science students. A structured inquiry. Educational Perspectives in Health Informatics and Information Management. 1–13. Retrieved from http://eduperspectives.ahima.org/critical-thinking-skills-of-allied-health-science-studentsa-structured-inquiry/#.VTRNok0iN1s

Skills Australia. (2010). Australian workforce futures: A national workforce development strategy. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.

Smedley, A. & Morey, P. (2010). Improving learning in the clinical nursing environment: perceptions of senior Australian bachelor of nursing students. Journal of Research in Nursing, 15(1), 75–88.

Smith, C., Ferns, S., & Russell, L. (2014). The impact of work integrated learning on student work-readiness. Final Report 2014. Sydney: Office for Learning and Teaching.

Spiers, M. & Harris, M. (2015). Challenges to student transition in allied health undergraduate education in the Australian rural and remote context: A synthesis of barriers and enablers. Rural and Remote Health, 15: 3069.retrieved from http://www.rrh.org.au/publishedarticles/article_print_3069.pdf

Steinberg, K., Bringle, R. & Williams, M. (2010). Service-learning research primer. Scotts Valley: National Service-Learning Clearinghouse.

Steinke, P. & Fitch, P. (2014). Using goal-based learning to understand why service-learning improves cognitive outcomes. Currents in Teaching and Learning, 7(1), 50–63.

Sturmberg, J. (2005). How to teach holistic care – Meeting the challenge of complexity in clinical practice. Education for Health, 18(2), 236–245.

Suchman, A, Sluyter, D., & Williams, P. (Eds). (2011). Leading change in healthcare: Transforming organisations using complexity, positive psychology and relationshipcentered care. London: Ratcliffe Publishing.

Titchen, A. & Higgs, J. (2001). A dynamic framework for the enhancement of health professional practice in an uncertain world: The practice knowledge interface. In J. Higgs & A. Titchen (Eds.), Practice knowledge and expertise in the health professions. (215–225),Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann.

Wakerman, J., Humphreys, J., Wells, R., Kuipers, P., Jones, A., Entwistle, P., & Kinsman, L. (2009). Features of effective primary health care models in rural and remote Australia: A case-study analysis. Medical Journal of Australia, 191, 88–91.

Walker, A., Yong, M., Pang, L., Fullarton, C., Costa, B., & Dunning, T. (2013). Work readiness of graduate health professionals. Nurse Education Today, 33, 116–122.

World Health Organisation (WHO). (2010). Framework for action on interprofessional education and collaborative practice. Geneva: Health Professions Networks Nursing & Midwifery Human Resources for Health. (WHO/HRH/HPN/10.3). Retrieved from http://www.who.int/hrh/nursing_midwifery/en/

Wylie, K., McAllister, L., Marshall, J., & Law, J. (2014). Adopting public health approaches to communication disability: Challenges for the education of speech-language pathologists. Folia Phoniatr Logop; 66, 164–175. Education for Communication Disability Public Health.