Teaching, Learning and Assessment Strategies

Abstract

As discussed in Chapter 1, the introduction of the Project 2000 Diploma programme meant that students spent much less time in the hospital ward setting, where they had traditionally learnt and practised their clinical skills. Clinical placements became more varied, and less time was spent in each, resulting in student complaints that they felt inadequate and unable to function as part of the team. Skills teaching had to become more structured and subsequent learning more focused in order to enable students to make the best use of their clinical placements. It is important to give students a baseline on which to build and enable them to recognise quality practice when they see it. This chapter describes how an interprofessional skills facility was developed to meet this need and outlines the way in which clinical skills teaching is addressed within the pre-registration programmes. Self-directed learning, through independent access to the Skills Centre, supported by ‘in-house’ instructional videos, is discussed, as is the use of the OSCE for the assessment of clinical competence.