2004 OPEN FORUM Abstracts
USE OF LEARNING CONTRACTS TO GUIDE LEARNING WITHIN RESPIRATORY CARE CLINICAL EDUCATION
Kathy
Jones-Boggs Rye, Ed.D., R.R.T. University
of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR.
Background:
Assessment of students’ development outside the boundaries of
the academic classroom can be challenging. The assessment of clinical
skills is of concern to employers, educators, and patients.
Technology and the diminishing resources impact how, why, and when a
student’s abilities are determined to be within the scope of
acceptable clinical practice. Use of learning contracts can provide a
basis on which a student’s development can be assessed by their
mentor/faculty advisor, as well as themselves.
Methods: This
qualitative study explored the attitudes of 26 junior and senior
respiratory care students enrolled in a clinical internship
experience that required use of a learning contract at an academic
health science center. At the conclusion of the internship
experience, a survey with open-ended questions was administered. A
three-step content analysis procedure was used to analyze the
qualitative data. First, the transcripts were manually coded by the
researcher. Secondly, the codes were reduced into attitude themes and
patterns. Subsequently a theoretical model of the experience was
developed. The model is comprised of three primary constructs:
competency (attitudes related to building student confidence and
competence), self-evaluation (attitudes related to additional
learning needs), and respiratory care cultural development (attitudes
related to making a difference, seeing results, and teamwork in the
profession).
Results: Findings of this study suggest several
important observations related to the use of clinical learning
contracts to guide learning within respiratory care clinical
education. Findings demonstrated positive attitudes regarding the
development of our students’ clinical competency. Both an
adequate knowledge base and the mastery of a variety of skills are
necessary for clinical competency. Findings further demonstrated that
students were able to self-identify additional learning needs as they
acclimated to the respiratory care culture. Developing a learning
contract designed to facilitate these processes allows the learner to
monitor their own education and to become a more discriminating user
of educational resources, better able to focus on acquiring the
desired clinical experiences.
The Experience: Clinical
learning contracts are designed to provide students with the
opportunity to focus on any identified areas of unsatisfactory or
desired practice. The learning contract specifies how the learner
will acquire the knowledge and attitudes relevant to their selected
learning experience. The clinical learning contract may be utilized
both as a learning tool and as evidence of a student’s
development throughout their clinical experience. The steps in
development of a learning contract include: 1) Self-evaluation of
clinical learning needs; 2) Specifying learning objectives; 3)
Specifying learning resources and strategies; 4) Specifying evidence
of accomplishment; 5) Review of the contract with the mentor/faculty
advisor.
Conclusions: The clinical learning contract was
originally developed for use in guiding learning experiences of
students during their clinical internships. Subsequently they have
become a valuable resource in ascertaining evidence of clinical
competency attainment. The clinical learning contract has evolved
into both an evaluation tool and evidence of the competency
development of our students.