Speak Out August 2018

in practice

Clinical Education in Australia: Building a profession for the future

In 2017, Speech Pathology Australia commissioned a national report to provide an overview of current speech pathology clinical education in Australia. Dr Sally Hewat and Ms Joanne Walters from the University of Newcastle were appointed project leads. The Association pleased to announce that The Clinical Education in Australia: Building a profession for the future is now available for members to read. It can be found on the SPA website at www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/ClinicalEd This report includes identification of best practice, consideration of opportunities and provision of recommendation for future developments in clinical education. The Association would encourage members to read this report to consider the benefits of and determine how clinical education can be applied to your work setting. Speech Pathology Australia would like to thank Sally and Joanne, the project team and their advisory group for all their work in producing this document. Clinical education working in private practice I t has been acknowledged that traditionally, clinical education placements are less likely to take place in private practice. In the final section of the Clinical Education in Australia report, the authors provide a range of scenarios to support members in private practice to make decisions about conducting a clinical placement. As part of the launch of the report, several speech pathologists working in the private sector were interviewed about how they conduct clinical education placements. Beth Causa, Lauren McIntosh and Rachel Tosh are all speech pathologists who work in the private sector. Beth owns a small practice and provides a mobile service to adults and adolescents in NSW for clients in disability, aged care and rehabilitation sectors. Lauren works for a private disability provider in Sydney and Rachel runs a larger multidisciplinary Project team: Dr Anne Hill and Mrs Adriana Penman, University of Queensland Dr Simone Arnott, Australian Catholic University Dr Stacie Attrill, Flinders University Ms Abigail Lewis, Edith Cowan University Dr Ruth Nicholls, the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne Project Officer: Ms Julia Hanrahan Advisory Board members: Stacey Baldac, Elizabeth Cardell, Amanda Wray, Melissa Ridd, Kathryn Fitzgerald, Katrina Webster, Belinda Kenny, Sam Pilling, Brittney King and Donna Dancer Acknowledgements Project leads: Dr Sally Hewat and Ms Joanne Walters, University of Newcastle

allied health practice in country Queensland. These members have all made a commitment to clinical education. All therapists conduct placements in time frames that fit in with their practice. For example, Beth works three days a week so prefers to have students three days a week for a longer block placement (e.g. eight weeks). Block placements also suit Rachel as she is in a rural area and not close to a University.

Clinical Education in Australia: Building a profession for the future

A national report for the speech pathology profession.

Lauren works full time in a city location so has been able to be more flexible around the timing of student placements e.g. once a week for 13 weeks vs. four days a week for five weeks. All therapists have had students conduct individual and group based therapy, observations and screenings based around the student’s level of experience and skill level. Rachel and Beth have also had students complete a specific project while on clinical placement. This has the advantage of the students having had relevant workplace tasks to perform during the times in the day when they are unable to conduct sessions as well as providing some additional value to the practices where they work. Lauren indicated that students in her workplace have also developed resources and that this has been a cost and time saver for both clients and the clinic. Beth, Lauren and Rachel all reported that students have been able to carry out sessions in a variety of settings across all workplaces e.g. clinics, RACFs, schools, disability group homes, day care centres and clients' homes etc. Common concerns about clinical education in the private sector include perceptions of the placement impacting on profitability and for it being a time- consuming process with no real benefits for the practice. The speech pathologists who were interviewed indicated that while there are certain times in a student placement where they are unable to see clients because of commitments such as orientation of students and completion of COMPASS, there are only marginal, if any, impacts on profitability when supervising students. Beth reported she “gains so much from current knowledge the students bring including the opportunity for fresh eyes in clinical problem solving, the ability to maintain my supervision skills, as well as the sense of ‘giving back’, that the non-financial benefits far outweigh a possible slight reduction in earnings. It’s not ideal when sometimes I have to give up some nights to support a struggling student, but you have to take the good with the bad”. Lauren McIntosh

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August 2018 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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