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JCPSLP
Volume 15, Number 2 2013
Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology
Keywords
clinical
education
failure
speech-
language
pathology
success
PREDICTORS
This article
has been
peer-
reviewed
Robyn Johnson
(top), Alison
Purcell (centre) &
Emma Power
Clinical education
Developing speech
pathology clinical
competency
Are there predictors for success?
Robyn Johnson, Alison Purcell and Emma Power
that may influence or predict academic and clinical success
(Forrest & Naremore, 1998; Halberstam & Redstone, 2005;
Kjelgaard & Guarino, 2012; Shapiro, Ogletree, & Dale
Brotherton, 2002). For the most part, studies of clinical
education in SLP (and other fields) have examined variables
that are in the control of the universities themselves, i.e.,
the provision of academic and clinical education (including
the skills of the clinical educators). Further, this research
has predominantly concentrated on predictors of academic
success. Very few studies examine predictors of clinical
success, e.g., Shapiro et al. (2002) and Dowling (1985).
Surprisingly, there has been little research into the
thinking and learning skills health sciences students bring to
their tertiary education. This may be due in part to differing
priorities of university staff and students. The differences
were described by Alhaqwi, Molen, Magzoub, and Schmidt
(2010), who examined opinions on effective clinical learning
in medical students and educators in Saudi Arabia. They
found that students focused on opportunities for clinical
learning and “their own strengths and weaknesses as
learners” (p. 12), while educators focused on “creating
the learning environment” (p. 13). It may be that student
factors are less represented in the literature because the
researchers (who are mainly educators) have focused more
on understanding their own area of interest, the learning
environment.
SLP studies have recognised academic success
as a contributor to students successfully developing
competent clinical skills (McAllister, Lincoln, Ferguson,
& McAllister, 2011). Thus, providing additional academic
support may be one way to improve clinical competency
for struggling students. However, the success of
providing additional academic support may be limited if
the students’ clinical difficulties exist at least in part due
to issues with their clinical education placement and/or
their own characteristics. In Figure 1, we provide a simple
representation of the way features (broadly represented
in the literature) may contribute to development of a
competent entry-level clinician. These features include
tertiary academic education, clinical education and the
students’ characteristics. Further investigation of the impact
of these three features is necessary to ensure appropriate
assistance for SLP students experiencing difficulties in the
acquisition of clinical competency.
This paper presents a narrative summary of the
literature regarding the impact of clinical failure on SLP
students and the potential predictors of success or failure
in their development. The variables that may influence
Learning the necessary skills to become a
speech-language pathologist is a complex
task. It involves academic and clinical
learning as well as the students’ own
personal characteristics (e.g., learning,
health, thinking, gender, age). However, there
is little published research worldwide
regarding student skills that will predict
clinical success in speech language
pathology (SLP). We present a summary of
the literature regarding the impact of clinical
failure for SLP students and the potential
predictors to success or failure in this
development. Variables that may influence
student clinical performance are discussed
with specific emphasis on the student
characteristics. We conclude that further
research into early predictors of clinical
success is warranted.
L
earning the necessary skills to become a speech-
language pathologist is a complex task. Speech-
language pathology (SLP) students spend several
years acquiring the theoretical knowledge needed to
be competent across the areas of practice identified by
Speech Pathology Australia (Speech Pathology Australia,
2003). Graduating SLP students must also demonstrate
competency in both discipline-specific and more generic
clinical skills common to all health professionals (Clouten,
Homma, & Shimada, 2006). A proportion of students have
difficulty acquiring the required level of clinical competency
and identifying these students early in the first years of SLP
study is extremely challenging. Failing clinical placements
can have serious ramifications for these students. Early
identification of those at risk of clinical failure would allow
time for additional specific learning support to take place
before starting clinical placements. It would also allow
additional support to be provided over longer periods of
time. This support would aim to minimise the number of
students who experience clinical difficulties and failure.
There is little published research regarding predictors
of clinical success in SLP. Indeed, Ho and Whitehill (2009)
identified that SLP clinical education as a whole is under-
researched. A handful of studies have examined variables