Competencies for Allied Healthcare Workers
I have found that it helps to develop clinical skills when an instructor uses real life experiences to teach the do's and don'ts in caring for their patients. For instance, I recently had a physical therapy technician student dismissed from a clinical site. He turned his back to a patient in his care who was on a treadmill. The reason he did this was to use his cellphone. He had been taught patient safety guidelines in his course but the real life application had not translated into commonsense. Without using his name or clinical site, I used this experience in my next class and asked the students why this was an issue with the supervisor, what could have happened because he breached his duty,and what would have been the legal considerations.The students became very engrossed in the conversation which led me to again go over patient safety guidelines.We then demonstated appropriate care and modalities for patients undergoing physical therapy. It was a very effective strategy to emphasize patient care and safety. Do others have similar stories to share?
I too have had a student dismissed from a clinical rotation site for neglect caused by cell phone usage in a patient care area. Patient safety cannot be over emphasized in the pre-clinical environment. Instructors need to be deligent in enforcing patient safety by practicing "real world" sceneros in the classroom and/or lab before students are allowed to work with actual patients!
Sharon,
Yes. If you can review the most common errors that should help.
Ron Hansen, Ed. D.
Reviewing the risks prior to performance alway helps to "hammer home" critical safety elements particularly with chemical and biohazard products
Hi Ron,
By repetition in all of their lab activities, with written exams, and in their lab practicals.
Heather,
How do you "hammer home" safety? Any methods work better than others.
Ron Hansen, Ed. D.
We have found it very important to "hammer home" critical safety elements in our lab practicals - many, of course, being "pass or fail" skills, with the student failing the entire practical if the skill is not performed.
Kathy,
Thank you for a wonderful post. Turning the student's mistake into a classroom discussion is a great concept. The fact that the discussion yielded engrossing conversation validates this approach.
Ron Hansen, Ed. D.
