Unpacking the Roles of a Clinical Educator

What does it mean to be a clinical educator?

The role of clinician is at your core – you have learned your profession so well, you often don’t have to think about why you are doing something or how you are going to do it.

This level of proficiency can often change when supervising a student. A shift occurs from expert clinician to relatively novice clinical educator. Novice because teaching students
may not be part of your daily routine, and because even with 5, 10 or even 20 years’ experience, every student’s learning needs are different and so one must constantly re-align
teaching styles to match.

This module aims to define the role of a clinical educator. By making explicit what you can be expected of you, you can continue to develop your skillset in this area.
The following reference from the literature has been used to inform the following discussion points:

1. Rose, M., & Best, D. (2005). Exploring the roles of the clinical educator. In Transforming Practice through Clinical Education, Professional Supervision, and Mentoring. Elsevier Health Sciences.

The six roles of a CE:

Click the buttons below to review and reflect on the following six roles, as suggested by Turney et al. (as cited in Rose & Best, 2005):

Manager

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Primary responsibilities include preparation for students, which encompasses tasks such as creating an optimal learning environment, ensuring staff and team readiness, making resources available, meeting externship requirements and developing goals; and coordinating with the organization around policies and procedures, and orientation.

Do you agree? Are there areas of this role that you do not see as relevant to your position? If so, whose responsibility is it? How do you ensure the manager role has been fulfilled?

Instructor

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The role of instructor moves past traditional didactic teaching methods and includes the introduction of learning processes associated with presenting (e.g. suggesting, modeling and explaining), questioning (e.g. pausing, probing, asking divergent questions), and problem-solving (e.g. delineating the problem, identifying factors and gathering information, applying and appraising solutions). Meeting the student “where they are at” is an important part of the teaching practice; helping the student move from novice to entry-level ready requires the instructor to coach and scaffold, while gradually reducing their input.

What’s your preferred method of instructing? How do you engage your student in learning?
How do you like to be taught? Do you appreciate the sort of experiential learning that “throws you in”, or do you prefer to have the opportunity to observe and collaborate before taking on a task? How much independence do you think students should have on externships? How independent do we need them to be prior to graduation?

Observer

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Observation of the student is essential to providing the student with feedback, assessing their competence, as well as ensuring safe and ethical practice. The observer gathers information, and shares this data with key stakeholders, namely the student and/or the Clinical Coordinator.

How do you take notes during student-client interactions? Do you use guiding questions to prompt you? Who else may be an appropriate “observer” throughout the students’ externship? Do you use the students’ own observations to inform your overall impressions? Have you engaged in peer feedback between groups of students? What do you think of clients providing feedback to students?

Giver of Feedback

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As an instructor, you aim to explicitly teach the student relevant clinical skills and attitudes. As an observer, you make notes of how the student presents in the clinical setting, and as giver of feedback you share these notes to help the student grow and develop their professional clinical identity.

What’s your preferred method of instructing? How do you engage your student in learning? Do you take written observation notes of the student-client interactions? How do you share these notes with your student?

Counsellor

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McGartland (as cited in Rose & Best, 2005) proposes the following counselling behaviours:
• Understanding that students are both fragile and robust, and the supervisory relationship must balance this. Creating a safe environment for the student to share their reactions/emotions in your conversations. Teaching the students “where they are at” instead of where we think they should be can create a more accessible learning environment.
• Understanding the student demographic. For example, did you know that studies suggest that students present with higher rates of anxiety than ever before? Factors include the pressures of social media, large student-debts and higher levels of stress balancing home and school life.
• Helping the student to understand the issue better, assisting them to clearly identify the problem. Engaging the student in a conversation around how they can help themselves and reflecting this solution-focused approach to students as growth and learning.
• Understanding that you as CE are not responsible for solving the problem.
• Listening well and reflecting your understanding.
• Identifying student’s strengths, providing concrete examples and encouraging the student to do the same.
• Contacting the Clinical Coordinator for support. Knowing when to refer, and reach out to other professionals.

Does being a “counsellor” to the student make you immediately think of scope of practice and professional boundaries? According to the authors, assigning this role within the larger role of CE has caused debate amongst clinicians. What is your reaction to “counsellor” being ascribed to your CE role?

Evaluator/Assessor

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Unlike the roles of observer and giver of feedback, the role of evaluator/assessor can have a sense of finality about it. Giving feedback is an integral part of the student’s formative learning while on externships, whereas providing an evaluation or assessment is often a summative learning experience.

Do you perceive a difference in delivering formative feedback (e.g. midterm, or after a clinic session) vs. summative feedback (e.g. final evaluation)? Do you find one easier than the other?

A student-centered approach:

As one reads through the list of CE roles, one can appreciate an obvious overlap between the role of the CE and the role of the clinician. This begs the question – are students similar to clients?

With clients, the initial meeting is often based on information seeking – case history, conversations, chart notes etc. From there we develop goals with our clients, put together an assessment plan, followed by intervention that focuses on empowering clients to achieve their personal best. This is client-centered care at its best. So can this formula work for students? What might an optimal student-centered approach look like?

Join the Conversation:

How do you create a student-centered approach at you clinic site?
Are there other CE roles that have not been mentioned here?

Contact Us: If you have questions or comments about this learning module, please email Eavan Sinden at esinden@audiospeech.ubc.ca