Student perspectives of preparedness characteristics for clinical learning within a fully distributed veterinary teaching model

Saadeh, Khalil; Aitken, Joanna B.; Paramasivam, Sharmini Julita; Cockcroft, Peter D.; Jeevaratnam, Kamalan

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0249669

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The results of this study expand on the findings of a survey-based, single-stakeholder study that willingness, knowledge and understanding, professionalism, interpersonal skills and personal attributes are important in terms of student preparedness for veterinary WCT [43]. There is some published work answering related research questions from which important aspects of student preparation for WCT can be inferred such as animal handling and physical exam skills [31,55,56], trustworthiness [56], respect [57,58], communication [31,55,56,59], wearing the correct uniform [57,58], time management [57], enthusiasm [31,56,58], timeliness [58], decision making [59], intellectual curiosity [57], filling knowledge gaps [31], confidence [59], animal advocacy [56] and teamwork [56].…”

Section: Contributing To the Ongoing Scholarly Conversation Around Pr...supporting

confidence: 62%

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Stakeholder perspectives on veterinary student preparedness for workplace clinical training – a qualitative study

et al. 2022

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Background The success of workplace clinical training (WCT) is important given that veterinary students are licensed to work independently upon graduation. Considering this, it is perhaps surprising that there is limited published work describing what it means to be prepared for this educational experience, particularly given that the transition to WCT can be stressful for students. This paper reports the results of a qualitative study aiming to generate a rich understanding of veterinary student preparedness for WCT using emic, or insider, perspectives of key stakeholders. Methods From a constructivist standpoint, homogenous online group interviews were held with final year veterinary students, recent student alumni, clinical supervisors, faculty, and academic educationalists to discuss what it means to be prepared for WCT. The data was analysed using a template analysis approach. Results A three-tier taxonomy to describe preparedness for WCT was constructed from the data. At the topmost level, there were seven themes to illuminate different aspects of preparedness: students should be prepared 1) for the transition to learning and working in a clinical and professional environment, 2) for self-directed and experiential learning whilst working, 3) with a growth mindset, 4) with intrinsic motivation and enthusiasm for learning and working, 5) for communication, consultation and clinical reasoning, 6) with the knowledge for work, and 7) with the practical competence and confidence for work. Conclusions This study provides a deeper understanding of the tools we can provide, and the attributes we can nurture in, senior veterinary students to facilitate their learning and working during WCT. This improved understanding is a necessary precursor to refining pedagogical support and curriculum design within veterinary schools.

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Section: Contributing To the Ongoing Scholarly Conversation Around Pr...supporting

confidence: 62%

“…A small study by Saadeh and colleagues [43] has been performed to explore veterinary students' perspectives of preparedness for WCT using an 'off the shelf ' quantitative instrument developed in the human health profession education field [44]. The study covered six preparedness themes that were measured in terms of importance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stakeholder perspectives on veterinary student preparedness for workplace clinical training – a qualitative study

et al. 2022

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“…Previous work (6) to explore pre-clinical veterinary students' perspectives on preparedness for WCT used a pre-existing survey taken from the human HPE field (43,49). Participants were asked to rate 62 preparedness characteristics in terms of their importance for veterinary WCT on a seven-point Likert item.…”

Section: Context In Health Professions Education Research: Quantifyin...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When symmetrical Likert items are used to measure attitudes such as student preparedness (6) or patient satisfaction (7), there is likely to be a skewed distribution of responses; a phenomenon called positivity bias (8). The ordinal and non-normally distributed data limits statistical analysis to non-parametric approaches (9).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rating and ranking preparedness characteristics important for veterinary workplace clinical training: a novel application of pairwise comparisons and the Elo algorithm

et al. 2023

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Quantitatively eliciting perspectives about a large number of similar entities (such as a list of competences) is a challenge for researchers in health professions education (HPE). Traditional survey methods may include using Likert items. However, a Likert item approach that generates absolute ratings of the entities may suffer from the “ceiling effect,” as ratings cluster at one end of the scale. This impacts on researchers’ ability to detect differences in ratings between the entities themselves and between respondent groups. This paper describes the use of pairwise comparison (this or that?) questions and a novel application of the Elo algorithm to generate relative ratings and rankings of a large number of entities, on a unidimensional scale. A study assessing the relative importance of 91 student “preparedness characteristics” for veterinary workplace clinical training (WCT) is presented as an example of this method in action. The Elo algorithm uses pairwise comparison responses to generate an importance rating for each preparedness characteristic on a scale from zero to one. This is continuous data with measurement variability which, by definition, spans an entire spectrum and is not susceptible to the ceiling effect. The output should allow for the detection of differences in perspectives between groups of survey respondents (such as students and workplace supervisors) which Likert ratings may be insensitive to. Additional advantages of the pairwise comparisons are their low susceptibility to systematic bias and measurement error, they can be quicker and arguably more engaging to complete than Likert items, and they should carry a low cognitive load for respondents. Methods for evaluating the validity and reliability of this survey design are also described. This paper presents a method that holds great potential for a diverse range of applications in HPE research. In the pursuit quantifying perspectives on survey items which are measured on a relative basis and a unidimensional scale (e.g., importance, priority, probability), this method is likely to be a valuable option.

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“…Previous work 6 to explore pre-clinical veterinary students' perspectives on preparedness for WCT used a pre-existing survey taken from the human HPE field 48,54 . Participants were asked to rate 62 preparedness characteristics in terms of their importance for veterinary WCT on a seven-point Likert item.…”

Section: Context In Health Professions Education (Hpe): Perspectives ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of pairwise comparisons and the Elo algorithm to quantitatively rate a large number of items in a single dimension

Routh¹,

Paramasivam²,

Cockcroft³

et al. 2022

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Quantitatively eliciting perspectives about a large number of similar entities (such as a list of competences) is a challenge for researchers in health profession education (HPE). Traditional survey methods may include using Likert items. However, a Likert item approach that generates absolute ratings of the entities may suffer from the “ceiling effect”, as ratings cluster at one end of the scale. This impacts on researchers’ ability to detect differences in ratings between the entities themselves and between respondent groups. This paper describes the use of pairwise comparison questions and a novel application of the Elo algorithm to generate relative ratings and rankings of a large number of entities on a unidimensional scale. A study assessing 91 student “preparedness characteristics” for veterinary workplace clinical training (WCT) in terms of their relative importance is presented as an example of this method in action. The Elo algorithm generates continuous data with measurement variability which, by definition, spans an entire spectrum: a normalised rating for each entity on a scale from zero to one. Since the ratings are relative to each other they are not susceptible to the ceiling effect. Additional advantages of the pairwise comparison question style are their low susceptibility to systematic bias and measurement error, they can be quicker and arguably more engaging to complete than Likert items, and they should carry a low cognitive load for respondents. Methods for evaluating the validity and reliability of this survey design are also described.Using pairwise comparison style questions and the Elo algorithm is an effective methodology to derive relative ratings (and rankings) of a large number of survey entities within HPE research.

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Student perspectives of preparedness characteristics for clinical learning within a fully distributed veterinary teaching model

Cited by 8 publications

References 23 publications

Stakeholder perspectives on veterinary student preparedness for workplace clinical training – a qualitative study

Stakeholder perspectives on veterinary student preparedness for workplace clinical training – a qualitative study

Rating and ranking preparedness characteristics important for veterinary workplace clinical training: a novel application of pairwise comparisons and the Elo algorithm

The use of pairwise comparisons and the Elo algorithm to quantitatively rate a large number of items in a single dimension

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