Highlights
- •Hand therapy clinical educators desire students with strong interpersonal skills.
- •Hand therapy clinical educators want students to be honest about what they know.
- •Hand therapy clinical educators want students to be willing to self-study.
- •Professional behaviors, clinical reasoning skills, and cultural competence are desired characteristics.
Abstract
Study Design: Mixed method design.
Introduction: Conceptualizing the desired characteristics of a student for a clinical
site is vital information during the matching process.
Purpose of the Study: The objective of this study was to identify the specific student
characteristics preferred by the hand therapy clinician educator.
Methods: A questionnaire was emailed to members of the American Society of Hand Therapists.
A semi structured interview was developed to investigate the topic further. Data was
collected and analyzed to determine descriptive statistics and themes regarding the
preferred student characteristics.
Results: The most common themes found regarding desired student characteristics by
hand therapists were students that possess strong interpersonal skills, a willingness
to self-study and learn independently, and students that exhibit professional behaviors.
Discussion: If students are successfully matched to clinical placements, this may
encourage sites to take students in the future and also reduce the need for the clinical
educator or university to address problems that arise during the experience.
Conclusion: Hand therapy clinical educators desire students with strong interpersonal
skills, a willingness to self-study and learn independently, demonstrate professionalism
and clinical reasoning skills, who possess a sincere interest in hand therapy and
demonstrate cultural competence when interacting with patients from different backgrounds
and social environments. Finally, hand therapy clinical educators want students to
be honest about what they know and what they don't know regarding hand therapy.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 13, 2022
Accepted:
October 7,
2021
Received in revised form:
October 4,
2021
Received:
August 18,
2020
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc.
