Peer‐assisted learning and small‐group teaching to improve practice placement quality and capacity in dietetics

Abstract

PAL practice placements offer potential benefits to placement capacity and possibly quality. The detailed evaluation will enable others to implement similar novel models of dietetics placements.

A mapping review of models of practice education in allied health and social care professions

“…However, as with other outcomes, the different methods used were not sufficient to make convincing or consistent claims about the contribution of specific models. Approaches used to evaluate effects on placement capacity included comparing the number of students provided with a placement over a given time period (Ferguson et al, 2014;Reidlinger et al, 2017), collecting qualitative feedback from health professionals about capacity (McCombe et al, 2008;Maynard et al, 2015;Schmitz et al, 2018), and the authors' opinions (Rindflesch et al, 2009). While observing the number of placements offered and asking stakeholders to estimate effects on capacity may be practical, and can be achieved with a good degree of reliability, focusing solely on capacity without concurrently considering the associated quality of practice education approaches is an issue.…”

“…Costs for students not studied; nor was any increase or decrease in productivity on the traditional placement because of students being in the service. Student experience and satisfaction with workload on peer-assisted placements were reported as equivalent to, or slightly higher than, one-to-one placements (Reidlinger et al, 2017), though final-year students -Stokes et al, 2006). Research type: opinion/experience of users and/or carers (E1) or professionals (E2).…”

“…favoured the latter as they felt it allowed clearer demonstrations of competency (O'Connor et al, 2012). Practice educators reported that the model might afford fewer learning opportunities (Briffa and Porter, 2013;Price and Whiteside, 2016), and required significantly more direct student supervision (Reidlinger et al, 2017), though a time-use survey by Bhagwat et al (2018) suggested that this may not to be the case. Sevenhuysen et al (2014Sevenhuysen et al ( , 2015 compared peer-assisted learning as a specific aspect of paired placements, finding no significant improvements to learning outcomes using this model, though both students and educators preferred practice placements that did not include specific peerlearning activities.…”

Preparing our future workforce: a qualitative exploration of dietetics practice educators’ experiences

“…For example, students’ expectations about their placements and future work roles could be managed by practice educators coaching them on embracing opportunities in an evolving profession. In addition, placement models that can maintain or enhance placement quality along with practice educator capacity and graduate attributes could be trialled, adopted and evaluated. Taking a solutions‐focused approach to addressing such challenges aligns with the pragmatic mindset demonstrated by participants in the present study.…”

The value of near-peer teaching in the medical curriculum: a medical student's perspective

“…One potential overlooked outcome of simplification and dated information is that near-peer teachers may inadvertently dissuade medical students from exploring research paths. While such schemes can be effective in filling knowledge gaps, 2 they may be less effective in habituating the reading of current research and understanding it with sufficient ease. Although near-peer teaching can make material easier to grasp, it might also decrease the desire to pursue the path of research, since students would not have been exposed sufficiently to “apprenticeship” in research.…”