| Sumario: | Introduction: Student placements provide a valuable opportunity to integrate theory into practice and prepare for future work roles in allied health. Innovative student placement models are required to meet placement demands and the changing scope of practice. The potential for placements in clinical research settings, in which the student is working alongside and learning from allied health clinicians working in research roles, remains under‐explored. Objective: To explore the time use and activities completed by Australian allied health clinicians employed in research roles and explore how these align with student placement competencies. Method: Cross‐sectional design. Participants were asked to self‐report time use over a 5‐day period. Data were analysed and presented descriptively in terms of the nature of tasks completed and time spent on the tasks. Discipline‐specific student placement assessment tools provided a framework to explore how the data aligned with competencies described in the assessment tools. Consumer and Community Involvement: Clinicians and educators were consulted during the study design phase. Results: Five occupational therapists and five physiotherapists (n = 10 total) employed in a range of research roles completed a time use diary template. A total of 35 different types of tasks were recorded, which were grouped into 13 categories. Most time was spent in the category of clinical documentation and the least amount of time spent in the category of teaching and training. Mapping of tasks to the discipline‐specific placement assessment tools showed that all student competencies were represented. Conclusion: Allied health clinicians employed in research roles could help students to meet required placement competencies by aligning research activities with student learning objectives. Completing placements under the supervision of these clinicians could provide opportunities that may bridge academic and clinical learning and highlight the value of research in clinical practice. PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: Work placements give allied health students the chance to apply what they have learned in the academic setting in the real world, preparing them for future employment. As the demand for student placements grows and job roles change, new ways of organising these placements are being developed. An increasing number of allied health clinicians work in research roles and this setting could be a valuable alternative placement option. However, placements in clinical research settings have not been well explored. This project examined how occupational therapists and physiotherapists employed in research roles spend their time and whether their activities could provide students opportunities to demonstrate required learning and skills during placement experiences. Five occupational therapists and five physiotherapists self‐recorded the nature of their daily tasks and duration of these tasks for five working days. This information was examined and the tasks were compared with assessment tools used to assess student skills on placement. Across participants, there were 35 different tasks recorded which were grouped into 13 categories. Most time was spent on clinical documentation, while the least time was spent on teaching and training. A comparison of these tasks with student placement requirements showed that the activities could support all required student competencies, with multiple tasks contributing to each competency. This suggests that research‐focused roles can offer valuable learning opportunities for students, addressing clinical placement competencies and offer universities an alternative placement setting. The experience may show students how their university studies link to real life practice and demonstrate the importance of research in their future work roles.
|
|---|