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Stephanie Reynolds and Patricia Fell discuss the capability of blended e-learning to improve students' placement experiences and help bridge communication gaps between mentors and universities
Summary
Mentoring students on community placements is an intensive process as they spend the entire placement shadowing their mentor. This article reflects the experiences of one community trust in designing and implementing an e-learning educational package for the community clinical placement in partnership with a local university. The project aimed to maximise learning opportunities by providing a more flexible approach to placement learning, enabling students to access online resources and learning activities independently or with their mentor, and to provide a resource for mentors. The article examines whether blended e-learning - a mix of online and one-to-one placement mentorship - can improve students' ability to learn independently and bridge the communication gap for mentors, while freeing up time for mentors to carry out documentation and data entry. It will also consider if blended e-learning offers a practical solution to shortages in placement capacity.
Keywords
Blended e-learning, clinical placement education, community placement capacity
The change of emphasis of primary care has developed rapidly since the Labour government's 1997 modernisation agenda. Supported by former health minister Lord Darzi (2008) one of the changes has been to increase the diversity of primary care nursing roles and educational requirements. More recently the standards for pre-registration nursing education (Nursing and Midwifery Council 2010) specify the need to increase community care ` placement hours.
The role of practice placement manager for a Birmingham primary care trust (PCT) is primarily to ensure that the quality of clinical placement education is maintained. The post holder is accountable under a tripartite agreement to the strategic health authority, the PCT, and the advanced educational institutes (AE I) that rely on the clinical placements for nursing students to undertake at least half the clinical element of their course. In Birmingham challenges have arisen when the number of students requiring a clinical placement has exceeded that which is manageable for achieving the best quality, equality and accessibility of the placement for the students.
Hutchings et al (2005) acknowledge this challenge in supporting learners in clinical practice and identify three themes from focus group interviews; capacity, enhancing support and issues that have...