ACQ_Vol_11_no_3_2009

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ACQ Volume 11, Number 3 2009 169
Clinical placements
Keywords
clinical
placements
education
workplaces
of clinical education provided by universities versus external
organisations and the proportions of adult, child and mixed
placements as well as rural and regional placements. The
remainder of this article presents a snapshot of the clinical
placements that occurred in Australia in 2005.
The context
Before presenting data about clinical placements in each
state it is important to contextualise this information. Table 1
presents the number of Speech Pathology Australia
members in each state in 2005 so as to provide a guide to
the relative proportions of speech pathologists in each state.
The table also presents the approximate numbers of
students enrolled in speech pathology degrees
(undergraduate and postgraduate) in 2005.
A snapshot of clinical
placements in 2005
University clinical coordinators and administrators were
asked to supply information regarding the number of weeks
of clinical education placements undertaken by their student
cohort in 2005. All types of placements including one day or
half day per week placements were converted to a total
number of weeks involved in the placement. Universities also
provided information about where the placements occurred
and the type of caseloads that students worked with. This
information is summarised for each state in Table 2.
Clinical education placements are a core part of every
university speech pathology course in Australia. Clinical
education placements allow students to develop both
generic and speech pathology specific clinical competencies
in real environments with real people. Among other things they
also allow students to determine whether they have chosen
the “right” career path, to identify areas of clinical work they
enjoy or don’t enjoy, and to understand the roles speech
pathologists take in different workplaces. University programs
strive to provide their students with a variety of high quality
clinical learning opportunities throughout their degrees.
Clinical education is also the interface between universities
and the speech pathology profession. Feedback flows to and
from members of the profession and university staff on a range
of issues that include the changing nature of the workplace,
theoretical advances, new service delivery models, changes
to educational approaches and aspirations for the future of the
profession. This ongoing dialogue keeps those who chose to
participate in clinical education updated with what is happening
in universities and the workplace. The dialogue also ultimately
benefits students, graduates and employers because graduates
are well prepared to enter contemporary workplaces.
Despite the recognised core role of clinical education in the
preparation of speech pathologists for the workplace, it is under
threat from all sides. Universities are commonly required to
justify the expense incurred in sourcing and supporting
external clinical placements. Speech pathologists in the field
often receive little workplace support for accepting students
on placement and as workloads and pressures rise, it becomes
increasingly more difficult to accommodate students within
an already busy day, week, or month. Partly in response to
this, speech pathology university programs have increasingly
moved clinical education experiences into on-campus clinics
and university financially supported external clinics. This in
turn results in more questioning by university leaders about
the cost of clinical education in speech pathology. University
administrators look across university programs and compare
the cost of speech pathology programs with the external
internships of engineers who are paid by industry to
complete their placements in their company, and exercise
and sports science students who find and negotiate their
own professional practice experiences.
In this environment of increasing threat from all sides,
Heads of Speech Pathology Programs and the then national
president of Speech Pathology Australia, Trish Bradd
decided that it was timely to take a baseline measure of
clinical education experiences across Australia. The baseline
will serve as an ongoing measure regarding the percentages
A national snapshot of
clinical placements in
Australia
Heads of Speech Pathology Programs and Speech Pathology Australia
Table 1. Approximate numbers of Speech Pathology
Australia members and speech pathology students
by state, 2005
State Speech Number Approxi- Approximate
Pathology of mate number of
Australia university number final year
members programs of students students
NSW/ACT 1,124 5 (3UG, 2PG) 620 150
Vic 952 2 (1UG, 1PG) 360 95
Qld 693 3 (2UG, 1PG) 300 75
Tas. 71 0 0 0
SA 198 1 (1UG) 130 33
WA 446 2 (1UG, 1PG) 200 55
NT 27 0 0
Total 3,511 13 (8UG, 5PG) 1,610 408
Michelle Lincoln