Development and Validation of a Clinical Practicum Assessment Tool for the NAACLS-Accredited Biomedical Science Program

Abstract

Student perspectives on their final year clinical placements in biomedical sciences at Qatar University are assessed using the clinical practicum assessment tool (CPAT), which was developed in-house following accreditation body requirements. The tool, which we call the CPAT-Qatar University (CPAT-QU), covers the three clinical practicum domains: practicum content, preceptors, and competencies. Here, we validate this tool. The CPAT-QU has 27 Likert-scale questions and free-text open questions. CPAT-QU readability was calculated using the Flesch–Kincaid Reading Ease (FKRE) instrument. Content validity was assessed using the average and universal average scale-level content validity indices (S-CVI/Average and S-CVI/UA). For construct validity, 50 employed graduates who had completed the practicum were consented for study participation, and the validity was calculated by a principal component analysis (PCA). Reliability was analyzed by Cronbach’s alpha. The S-CVI/Average and S-CVI/UA were 0.90 and 0.59, respectively, indicating that an adequate proportion of the content was relevant. The PCA extracted two core components, which explained 63% of the variance in the CPAT-QU. Cronbach’s alpha values for the items were within the acceptable range of 0.60–1.00, showing that internal consistency has a good level. CPAT-QU appears to be a useful tool for assessing student perspectives on their clinical placements; however, construct validity needs continuous improvement.

COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance among Vulnerable Groups: Syrian Refugees in Jordan

“…Understanding disease mechanism and possible side effects of the vaccine was shown to be important in other groups in Jordan and other Middle East countries. A study performed in three Middle Eastern countries (Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait) found that participants had moderate overall COVID-19 knowledge, and had better knowledge about disease prevention and control [ 27 , 28 ]. Higher education participants had a good level of understanding, which could be linked to their level of education.…”

Clinical Practicum Assessment for Biomedical Science Program from Graduates’ Perspective

“…This study made use of a previously designed and validated tool that was developed at QU. The tool is called Clinical Practicum Assessment Tool at Qatar University (CPAT-QU) and consists of 27 items (Table S2) [11]. The first part of CPAT-QU tool explores the satisfaction level of MLS graduates in terms of clinical-practicum organization, content, evaluation criteria and length.…”

“…It mandates the completion of the clinical practicum in the last semester of a four-year curriculum before the award of a Bachelor of Science degree in MLS. The main objective of this study was to survey MLS graduates at Qatar University using a previously developed and validated tool, called CPAT-QU, in order to gather descriptive data on students' perceptions of the clinical practicum content, teachers and entry-level competencies required to enter their profession [11]. The study examined graduates' perspectives on content, teachers and clinical training and their satisfaction rate based on the skills they gained during their training.…”