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. 2023 Nov 18;193(10):e3504.
doi: 10.1002/vetr.3504. Epub 2023 Nov 13.

Clinical supervisors' and students' perspectives on preparedness for veterinary workplace clinical training: An international study

Jennifer Routh  1 , Sharmini Julita Paramasivam  1 , Peter Cockcroft  1 , Sarah Wood  2 , John Remnant  3 , Cornélie Westermann  4 , Alison Reid  5 , Patricia Pawson  6 , Sheena Warman  2 , Vishna Devi Nadarajah  7 , Kamalan Jeevaratnam  1
Affiliations

Clinical supervisors' and students' perspectives on preparedness for veterinary workplace clinical training: An international study

Jennifer Routh et al. Vet Rec. .

Abstract

Background: The alignment of student and workplace supervisors' perspectives on student preparedness for veterinary workplace clinical training (WCT) is unknown, yet misalignment could negatively impact workplace learning. The aim of this study was to quantify the relative importance of WCT preparedness characteristics according to students and supervisors and to identify differences.

Methods: A survey was completed by 657 veterinary students and 244 clinical supervisors from 25 veterinary schools, from which rankings of the preparedness characteristics were derived. Significant rank differences were assessed using confidence intervals and permutation tests.

Results: 'Honesty, integrity and dependability' was the most important characteristic according to both groups. The three characteristics with the largest rank differences were: students' awareness of their own and others' mental wellbeing and the importance of self-care; being willing to try new practical skills with support (students ranked both of these higher); and having a clinical reasoning framework for common problems (supervisors ranked higher).

Limitations: Using pooled data from many schools means that the results are not necessarily representative of the perspectives at any one institution.

Conclusion: There are both similarities and differences in the perspectives of students and supervisors regarding which characteristics are more important for WCT. This provides insights that can be used by educators, curriculum developers and admissions tutors to improve student preparedness for workplace learning.

Keywords: clinical supervisors; preparedness; readiness; survey; veterinary students; workplace learning.

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References

REFERENCES

    1. Routh J, Paramasivam SJ, Cockcroft P, Nadarajah VD, Jeevaratnam K. Stakeholder perspectives on veterinary student preparedness for workplace clinical training-a qualitative study. BMC Vet Res. 2022;18(1):340.
    1. Saadeh K, Aitken JB, Paramasivam SJ, Cockcroft P, Jeevaratnam K. Student perspectives of preparedness characteristics for clinical learning within a fully distributed veterinary teaching model. PLoS One. 2021;16(5):e0249669.
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    1. Magnier K, Wang R, Dale VHM, Murphy R, Hammond RA, Mossop L, et al. Enhancing clinical learning in the workplace: a qualitative study. Vet Rec. 2011;169(26):682.
    1. Routh J, Paramasivam SJ, Cockcroft P, Nadarajah VD, Jeevaratnam K. Using learning theories to develop a veterinary student preparedness toolkit for workplace clinical training. Front Vet Sci. 2022;9:1-14.

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