As we begin this journey into the world of clinical instruction, I am both excited and slightly nervous. I see myself beginning my teaching career in the clinic, so I look forward to learning how to be successful in this part of students’ education. I will begin my clinical teaching internship in January, so I hope to put what we learn this semester into action.
Roles of a clinical instructor:
1. A clinical instructor should serve as a resource for students.
-Students are going to come across situations that they are not prepared for or know how to handle at this time in their education. An instructor should be available to guide students in the right direction to make evidence-based decisions. As an instructor, I would use the knowledge I have gained from my education and work experience, to help students realize what to do and why. This will help them in the future when they encounter similar situations. It is important to be a guide, rather than giving them the answer without leading them down the path.
2. A clinical instructor should be timely, organized, and prepared.
-I think this role often gets overlooked in the clinical instructor role. From my experience, some instructors do not prepare themselves for clinic, and think preparation is more for didactic courses. In reality, clinical instructors need to prepare for their upcoming clinical sessions, and arrive on time.Clinical teaching requires extensive preparation. On page 51 of Clinical Instruction & Evaluation: A Teaching Resource, the author states, “The clinical instructor must have a working knowledge of the patients assigned to students, as well as a current understanding of healthcare problems likely to be encountered and the treatments, procedures, and policies that apply.” If a clinical instructor is not prepared by keeping up to date with current healthcare recommendations, they may not handle situations in the best way possible. For example, a patient may come in asking the thoughts on a new sensitivity toothpaste and if it works. For a student in their first couple months of clinic, this is overwhelming. The instructor must take on the responsibility of educating themselves on new projects, recommendations, and developments in the dental field.
3. A clinical instructor must be focused, prompt, and center their attention on the students and the patients.
-This is an issue I noticed when I was in clinic, with both dental hygiene and dental faculty. I would ask for an area to be checked, but the instructors were discussing personal issues or browsing the web on their phones. It put me behind in my appointment, and if the patient noticed, probably looked unprofessional. I will make sure that the only delay of me checking one of my students is because I am working with another student.
I think one goal of clinical instruction is to help students think for themselves. Like I said earlier, instructors should be guides along the way. We want students to develop their own thoughts and opinions on how to handle situations. For example, most hygienists have strong feelings on how to treat periodontal disease, when to treat, what can wait, and timeframe for patients. These thoughts come from having a background knowledge, taking personal experiences, and considering the research. Instructors need students to think critically about each patient’s situation, and determine what is best on a case by case basis.
Another goal of clinical instruction is to develop strong patient communication skills. Many students struggle with verbiage, and how to discuss issues in language patients will understand. They have to display confidence, and get patients to want the treatment they need. Beyond this, some students struggle discussing things as simple as medical history. This gives them exposure to real life application.
As said in the text, clinical instructors play a role in helping students achieve their goals and objectives in didactic courses (Clinical Instruction & Evaluation: A Teaching Resource, pg. 43). It is the responsibility of the clinical instructor to know what students are learning in didactic courses, and help them relate this in real scenarios. It even suggests instructors sharing course outlines, materials, and text to ensure student success.
I think my strengths would be patient communication, and my background knowledge of hygiene. I feel that I have a strong case acceptance in private practice, and am well-versed when discussing major issues in lamest terms. My biggest weakness is that I do not appear as confident as I should. With my students this week, I kept having to remind myself that they are JUST beginning their hygiene careers, and have learned very little. I often had to stop myself and think, ‘they do not know what that means yet.’ It is hard for me to speak in terms they understand, and not talk over their heads. To fix this, I think it is a great suggestion from the textbook to review what they are learning in the courses, so I can keep up with what they have learned thus far.
Clinical instruction has been fun in my first few weeks so I’m excited to hear about your internship later in the year. I would agree that communication is key from all aspects. I mention in my blog that I didn’t feel well prepared to communicate with my patients on certain topics such as periodontal disease in a way that they would understand. In school, we learn all the technical terms and have so much on our minds, that sometimes the simplest communication task can seem overwhelming and daunting. Your students will gain so much from your knowledge. I remember in hygiene school there was one adjunct faculty member in particular that was amazing at talking with patients and I learned quite a bit when she was my block instructor. I have tried to follow her footsteps in discussing treatment or concerns with patients and placing it in terms patients can understand and ask questions about.
One other thing that jumped out in your blog was the importance of keeping up with what students are learning in their classroom course. We have faculty meetings weekly to discuss issues and briefly hear the topics that are being discussed in the didactic setting. Additionally, all clinic faculty are in the first year students pre-clinic course so that we can hear exactly what is being taught to best conduct the student evaluations. It has been very helpful and even reminds me of topics I may have since forgot or don’t use on a daily basis.
-Shawna
As I said in our web meeting, I think one of the hardest things for me to do as new clinical instructor will be stepping back and not giving the students all of the answers immediately. Thinking back to hygiene school, it was so frustrating at times when working with instructors that would make you think rather than just giving you the answer, but in the long-run, it has definitely made us better clinicians! I feel like stepping back and promoting critical thinking must be done with purpose, however. Lacking formal training in education, some instructors may believe they are asking good questions and promoting critical thinking while they are actually just frustrating the student who is grasping at the concept. Knowing what your student already knows and being able to work from the lowest level of learning to higher levels of learning will make this aspect of clinical instruction more satisfying for both student and instructor as well as more effective overall.
I love how you refer to instructors as guides along the way. I think we all agree that we want to encourage critical thinking rather than just give our students the answer. I was that student in hygiene school who became frustrated when an instructor didn’t just provide an answer to me. Looking back though, I’m glad I was pushed to critically think on my own. Now as a clinician in private practice, I utilize these critical thinking skills on a daily basis. I also agree, instructors should be very familiar with what students are learning in the classroom so that they are on the same page. We learned about course alignment last semester and I think this should be true for clinical instruction as well. Clinical instruction should be aligned with what students are learning in the classroom in a given semester.
You made a great point that, “It is important to be a guide, rather than giving them the answer without leading them down the path.” This is where critical thinking begins! Many times, students are caught off guard when you do not give them the answer, but pose a question instead. They collect themselves, though, and watching them search their minds for answers always makes me smile. This will happen to them in private practice, so it is important that they learn critical thinking early. They will stumble upon a complication that they must process through. Undoubtedly, they will remember the instructor who always made them “figure it out.”
It was very unnerving to read about your experience with clinical instructors. I do not doubt the personal conversations, but cell phone usage is absurd. In regards to preparing for clinic, it can be very time-consuming and frustrating for instructors. As part-timers who are not involved in didactic courses, clinical instructors are often out of the loop. Prep time is an unpaid role, which causes many instructors to forego it. It is easy for instructors to quickly become bitter and jaded, due to “the system.”
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