Lead Department
Biological Sciences, MTU Cork
Coordinated by
Lesley Cotter (Lesley.Cotter@mtu.ie)
Active members
20 – 50
Purpose
The Clinical Placement Coordinators Learning Community (LC) was created to provide a forum for those involved in clinical placements to discuss, improve, and develop the training and assessment of students in the Diploma in Clinical Laboratory Practice. The LC includes approximately 25 hospital-based clinical placement trainers and MTU staff involved in the Diploma.
Summary of Activities
This year, we held several online meetings and one on-campus session. Each meeting focused on a specific theme, beginning with a 10-minute talk by one of the participants, followed by a discussion forum.
Our aim was to create an ongoing platform for collaboration between clinical placement trainers in hospitals and MTU staff. The meetings allowed for the sharing of experiences and the identification of areas to improve student training. Key topics discussed included standardising assessment and marking approaches, and ensuring alignment with statutory body CORU’s requirements and the professional standards expected in the field.
In addition to online meetings, we had a well-received end-of-year on-campus session. During these meetings, the learning community discussed ways to improve clinical placement processes, including more efficient systems for returning marks from placement sites to MTU. We also developed a standardised rubric for performance evaluation during placements.
In response to feedback from clinical placement trainers, we plan to adjust the format of meetings going forward, shifting from regular online sessions to fewer in-person meetings supported by occasional online discussions.
Additional Information:
Our clinical placement trainers expressed how valuable the LC has been in terms of professional development and inter-hospital collaboration. One testimonial highlighted how sharing training procedures with other hospitals has led to updates in local practices and improved the training experience.
The online meetings have been especially beneficial for providing comprehensive training to student coordinators, offering opportunities to discuss issues and explore topics of personal interest. The on-site meeting at MTU further enhanced this by fostering open conversations and contributing to developments like the updated marking rubric.
