Evaluating allied health students' readiness for placement learning.

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Educational Assessment
• Work-Integrated Learning

Background:

• Experiential learning, like work-integrated learning (WIL) placements, presents challenges for health professional students.
• Adequate preparation is essential for successful placement learning.
• Operationalizing 'readiness for learning on placement' is key for effective student feedback and assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate an assessment tool measuring student readiness for health professional placements.
• To identify and measure foundational skills and attributes essential for successful placements.

Main Methods:

• An integrative mixed-methods approach was used, combining surveys and assessment tool development.
• Surveys collected perspectives from academics, students, and educators on readiness for placement.
• Rasch analysis evaluated the unidimensionality of the developed assessment tool using data from occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and speech pathology students.

Main Results:

• A 20-item pilot tool was developed, measuring professional behavior, communication, information gathering, and reasoning skills.
• Survey results confirmed the importance and measurability of foundational skills for placement readiness.
• Rasch analysis of 359 student assessments supported the unidimensionality of the readiness construct, indicating the tool's items are relevant and representative.

Conclusions:

• An innovative assessment tool has been created and revised to measure novice health professional students' pre-placement capabilities.
• The study supports the relevance and representativeness of the assessment items for indicating readiness for placement learning.
• Further research is recommended to explore the psychometric properties of the developed assessment tool.