Discipline of Physiotherapy, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Ann Med. 2023;55(2):2256656. doi: 10.1080/07853890.2023.2256656. Epub 2023 Sep 19.
Once considered a supplement to traditional teaching approaches, digital tools now play a pivotal role in building core clinical competencies. This study aims to explore staff and student experiences of navigating the challenges of teaching and assessing clinical skills using digital technology. It also aims to provide insight into what skills, or aspects of skills, may be best suited to digitally enhanced teaching, thereby advancing the future of health science education.
This qualitative study comprises the second phase of data generation for a mixed-methods research project entitled DEPTH (Digitally Enhanced Practical Teaching in Health Science). Health science staff and students expressed interest in taking part in the current study during the first stage of data collection. Qualitative data was collected in January 2022 through semi-structured group interviews and individual semi-structured interviews. An interpretivist qualitative research design underpinned by a critical realist epistemological position was used. Themes were generated following Braun and Clarke's 6-step process for reflexive thematic analysis.
Overall, 10 staff and 8 students across 11 health science disciplines participated in this research. Fourteen hours of transcripts were analysed and 4 themes generated. Our findings highlight the suitability of digitally enhanced teaching for low-stake skills requiring visual and auditory training, while skills requiring tactile training require in-person practice to build student competency. Importantly, our findings indicate a desire for increased remote teaching. While our work was not specifically aimed at documenting experiences related to the Covid-19 pandemic, all participants had lived experience teaching or learning during the pandemic and many spoke specifically about this.
The timing of this paper captures a novel moment in the history of clinical pedagogy. Staff and students advocate for the continued integration of technology into health science education generally, and clinical skills teaching specifically. For this to be successful, judicious selection of methods, skills, skill components and technology, that can be appropriately mapped onto specific learning outcomes, is required.
曾经被认为是传统教学方法的补充，数字工具现在在构建核心临床能力方面发挥着关键作用。本研究旨在探讨教职员工和学生在使用数字技术教授和评估临床技能时遇到的挑战的经验。它还旨在深入了解哪些技能或技能方面最适合数字化增强教学，从而推进健康科学教育的未来。
这项定性研究是题为 DEPTH（健康科学中的数字化实践教学）的混合方法研究项目的第二阶段数据生成的一部分。健康科学的教职员工和学生在第一阶段数据收集期间表示有兴趣参与当前的研究。定性数据于 2022 年 1 月通过半结构化小组访谈和个人半结构化访谈收集。一个解释性定性研究设计，基于批判现实主义的认识论立场。主题是根据 Braun 和 Clarke 的 6 步反思主题分析过程生成的。
共有 11 个健康科学学科的 10 名教职员工和 8 名学生参与了这项研究。分析了 14 小时的转录本，并生成了 4 个主题。我们的研究结果表明，数字化增强教学适合需要视觉和听觉训练的低风险技能，而需要触觉训练的技能则需要实地练习来建立学生的能力。重要的是，我们的研究结果表明需要增加远程教学。虽然我们的工作不是专门记录与新冠疫情相关的经验，但所有参与者都有在疫情期间教学或学习的亲身经历，许多人专门谈到了这一点。
本文的时间点捕捉到了临床教学史上一个新的时刻。教职员工和学生普遍倡导将技术继续融入健康科学教育，特别是临床技能教学。要做到这一点，需要明智地选择方法、技能、技能组件和技术，这些方法、技能、技能组件和技术可以适当地映射到特定的学习成果上。
