Developing a Graduate Social Work education program across acute and subacute health care settings in the post Covid context.
Tess McAloon1 1Alfred Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Abstract
Background:
The Covid19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns had a significant impact on both the health care and tertiary education sector in Victoria. The public health measures enacted in Victoria during this period, including a statewide code brown significantly impacted the role of Social Workers within acute and subacute health care settings. At the same time Social Work students experienced significant disruptions to their education and clinical placements. This significantly impacted the Social Work workforce at Alfred Health, resulting in an especially less-experienced workforce. To address this noticeable experience gap, we established an education program to support clinical skill development of new graduate Social Workers.
Method:
– Development of a key competency framework providing a guide for graduates and their clinical supervisors to support clarification of expected clinical competencies of hospital-based Social Workers, and clinical skill education plans.
– A 14-week education program addressing key competency indicators.
– Individual bedside coaching from dedicated clinical educators focusing on clinical skills and development of a bedside coaching practice guideline.
Results:
Graduate Social Workers completed self-assessed rating of each competency outlined in the framework at the commencement of the program which will be repeated after the program is completed. We will also collect self-reported confidence ratings for each individual education session delivered and feedback on bedside coaching sessions. We expect that the program will increase self-reported competency and confidence.
Outcomes and implications:
Subject to further evaluation, programme may be a model for ongoing graduate education and inform future education across all Social Work grades.
Biography
A Social Worker with over 10 years experience working within health care settings currently providing clinical education to Social Workers across both acute and sub acute hospital settings.