Supporting Student Success

Whether we are passionate about educating students or whether we believe that educating students is a job responsibility, as practicing medical radiation technologists/therapists, we are all clinical role models and clinical teachers. Although the majority of students adapt to the clinical environment and professional culture without too much difficulty, as clinical teachers, we have all encountered the student we felt was a challenge to educate. You may have experienced a student you thought was not motivated, did not effectively communicate, or was just a "problem"! As clinical teachers, we often struggle with how best to educate the student who is experiencing difficulty, which can lead to feeling helpless as to how to assist the student to be successful. Regardless of the time and effort spent with the student, when the student is unsuccessful, the reflective practitioner inevitably feels some responsibility. Before characterizing a student as a "problem," clinical teachers need to consider and recognize the many factors that may influence the poor performance. Using evidence from the literature, this article will describe common causes of difficulty that students may be experiencing, how to recognize the difficulty (including the complex nature of the difficulty), strategies for remedial intervention, and a structured framework for a remediation plan to enable the student to succeed.