96075 Professional Practice 3

Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.

Subject handbook information prior to 2024 is available in the Archives.

Description

This is a capstone subject for the Master of Orthoptics and the final professional practice subject in the course. It is designed to synthesise student learning and knowledge acquired in all subjects undertaken across the course. This is facilitated through placements in varied clinical environments, including rural and international locations. Learning in the clinical setting enables students to meet graduate requirements and consolidate requisite knowledge, skills and attitudes to attain the competency standards of an entry-level practitioner. Student learning emphasises clinical reasoning for the management of patients with a range of ocular conditions that may interact with systemic conditions. Students should have a professional level of behaviour and skill in the clinical setting and conduct reflective and evidence-based practice. Clinical competency is assessed, commensurate with the registration standards set out by the Australian Orthoptic Board. Students are required to reflect upon their professional development, particularly their readiness for professional entry into orthoptic practice and their ability to work both independently and within the multidisciplinary health care team.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)

The learning outcomes for this subject are as follows:

• Demonstrate professional behaviour and expertise in the delivery of safe, competent and responsible practice for the benefit and care of patients and the wider community. (.01)
• Reflect on knowledge, attitudes and skills acquired for the evaluation and integration of emerging evidence into practice, promoting the growth of personal and professional learning and the education of others. (.02)
• Analyse and synthesise knowledge of health sciences concepts and theory, and apply skills of scientific research and clinical reasoning to support decision-making in orthoptic practice. (.03)
• Engage in leadership and collaboration for the development of patient-focused clinical teams to ensure the integration of effective health care. (.04)
• Be an advocate for their patient, demonstrating sound, ethical, compassionate and respectful patient-focused care while acknowledging responsibility for personal health and wellbeing. (.05)
• Effectively and accurately communicate to patients, their families, carers and members of the healthcare team and contributing to the wider role of health education and its promotion, acknowledging and adapting communication to address cultural and linguistic diversity. (.06)
• Demonstrate knowledge of health systems and concerns in national and global communities, with awareness of the social and cultural context of their practice reflected in a consultative approach to the formulation and implementation of management plans that meet the diverse needs of individuals and communities. (.07)
• Demonstrate respect and value for diverse ways of knowing, being and doing, in particular recognising the diversity of Indigenous Australians while critically reflecting upon the impact of ongoing colonisation and its pervasive discourse on their health and wellbeing, and integrating this knowledge into practice. (.08)
• Represent the role of the orthoptist in multidisciplinary environments and through self-awareness and acknowledgement of the contribution of other health practitioners, support an interdisciplinary approach to attain the best outcomes for patients. (.09)

Contribution to the development of graduate attributes

In addition, this subject contributes to the development of the following graduate attributes:

• Lifelong Learning

• Professional Capacity

• Cultural Competence

• Global Citizenship

Teaching and learning strategies

This is an external clinical placement subject. Students are allocated block placements prior to the start of the calendar B session. Clinical learning is supported by on-campus workshops at relevant times during the session.

Practice-orientated Learning: As a clinical placement subject, students have the opportunity to engage in clinical orthoptic practice, utilise and further develop their hands-on clinical skills and apply their academic knowledge of orthoptics to real patients and authentic experiences and scenarios within the clinical environment. Learning in the clinical environment is under the mentorship of qualified health professionals, in particular, orthoptists and ophthalmologists. Students are expected to actively engage in all aspects of clinical orthoptic practice including; the assessment of patients, discussion of patient cases and management approaches and clinical troubleshooting.

Collaborative Learning: Orthoptists work within a multi-disciplinary team environment and often collaborate with other health professionals to provide optimal patient care. Through clinical placement, students have the opportunity to work within these collaborative teams and develop both general teamwork skills and specific clinical skills such as; patient handover, collaborative management planning and case conferencing. Students also collaborate closely with peers, orthoptic clinicians and other eye clinic staff (administration, ophthalmology registrars and consultants, ophthalmic nurses, optometrists and other allied health professionals) throughout their clinical placement. In on-campus workshops, students also work collaboratively to discuss and reflect on clinical experiences, troubleshoot clinical difficulties and participate in case-based learning.

Case-based Learning: Case-based learning is a form of problem-based learning (PBL) and a key learning strategy used in workshops. Case-based workshops are used to support learning in the clinical environment and bridge between academic learning and experiences in the clinical learning environment. These activities promote active engagement of students in the classroom through collaborative analysis and solving of patient scenarios and develop clinical reasoning skills. Students also prepare written case studies of patients assessed in the clinical environment as part of their workbook assessment. These tasks further support preparation for the viva examination.

Reflective Learning: Reflective practice is an essential skill for health professionals to develop. Students are encouraged to critically reflect on their learning throughout the subject to identify areas where they may improve their performance and to assist in the development of lifelong learning skills. Specific activities where reflective learning is encouraged are; self-evaluation of learning within the clinical environment in the clinical workbook assessment and reflection on self-developed learning goals. Reflection is further encouraged through the patient education task and collaborative discussion about this task within workshops.

Self-directed Learning: Students are encouraged to continue to utilise the orthoptic dedicated teaching clinics to practice their clinical skills in preparation for clinical placement. A number of clinical placement sites provide information about the types of patients and area of specialisation of their clinic. Students are further encouraged to review this information prior to attending clinical placement and revise key concepts and skills related to the clinical site area of practice. Additional patient case studies are posted on Canvas throughout the session for students to work on, off-campus and students are encouraged to email these to the subject coordinator for additional formative feedback. These case studies are not assessable and it is optional for students to complete these for feedback.

Ongoing Feedback: Students are provided with immediate feedback relating to the performance of clinical skills, clinical reasoning and understanding of key concepts of clinical practice by supervisors when on clinical placement. Formal feedback about a student’s performance while on clinical placement is provided via the clinician feedback assessment. Students are further provided formative feedback in workshops, on additional case studies completed and in mock viva examinations in preparation for their final viva examination. Formal written feedback is provided for the workbook assessment task activities.

Content (topics)

Professional Practice 3 is the final subject in the clinical stream of the Masters of Orthoptics course. This subject advances the foundational clinical learning from Professional Practice 1 and 2 with the focus on higher levels of clinical reasoning for the assessment and management of patients in complex clinical situations. Advancement in clinical practice is supported through learning within 96039 Research Project 2 and 96040 Advanced Professional Practice.

Assessment

Assessment task 1: Clinical Portfolio

Assessment task 2: Supervisor Feedback

Assessment task 3: Solo Assessment and Final Viva

Minimum requirements

Students are required to attend 90% of scheduled lectures and workshops. Clinical placements will be scheduled as detailed in "Additional Information - Attendance Requirements" above. It is expected that students attend 100% of scheduled clinical placements.

Note: there is a must-pass assessment in this Subject. Please check assessment descriptions for details.

Required texts

Coursework Assessments Policy

Coursework Assessments Procedures

Graduate School of Health Policy, Guidelines and Procedures (login required)

Recommended texts

As this subject draws upon all subject matter taught within the course a number of texts will be helpful. This could include but are not limited to various texts used in other subjects taught throughout this course and:

Clinical and fieldwork placement in the health professions (Oxford) Edited by Karen Stagnitti, Adrian Schoo, Dianne Welch