No continuing education credits
1) Clinical Expansion with a Student-Centered Intention
Presenters: Cynthia Palmaria
Learning Objectives:
– Present the Clinical Faculty experience and learnings undergoing a clinical placement expansion in a Radiation Therapy Program.
– Share strategies to provide comprehensive support for new learning mentors (preceptors) for student clinical placement.
– Discuss strategies for student support that promote equity of learning across a province.
2) Name It To Claim It: The Role of Psychological Safety in Undergraduate Health Education
Presenters: Kayli Chen
Learning Objectives:
With a foundation in teamwork, healthcare practice is interprofessional and collaborative in nature. As such, a key component of health education is the development of team skills, which are actively practiced through group assignments, lab work, and interprofessional education (IPE) activities. However, when students feel uncomfortable in a team setting, the discomfort they feel can go on to manifest itself as a fear of rejection. Students may find it difficult to speak up, resist asking challenging questions, and avoid suggesting innovative ideas in an effort to avoid further discomfort. Not knowing how to classify these feelings, students gravitate towards avoidance and push aside unpleasant experiences by disengaging from their surroundings. Through the Psychological Safety workshop, the discomfort alluded to above is formally named, and by doing so, students are empowered to recognize when it is missing, which is necessary in taking action to claim it.
The Psychological Safety workshop was delivered to 95 undergraduate Medical Radiation Sciences students in the 2nd year of their academic program as part of an IPE focused course. A pre-workshop survey was administered to establish their baseline knowledge on psychological safety, which was followed by a post-workshop survey to measure changes in knowledge. A third, follow-up, survey was administered after the first IPE activity scheduled in their curriculum.
As demonstrated through a comparison of the pre and post workshop surveys, there was some-to-minimal change in the level of comfort experienced when placed in a team setting. The most dramatic gain was the positive shift in awareness regarding psychological safety as a concept, and the value that it holds in upholding team functioning. Additionally, the majority of students felt that the workshop provided novel information, improved their comfort with using existing tools, and identified practical applications for their learnings in relation to their everyday lives, as well as their future careers in healthcare.
By naming the discomfort that is typically experienced when placed in a team setting, power is returned to the individual and an opportunity is created for them to recognize when it is lacking. This awareness acts as a precursor to fostering psychological safety and allows for action to be taken.