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Simulated learning programs are an important component of allied health education. Although the role of simulation clinical educators has been highlighted as critical for student learning within simulation, their perceptions of their role have not yet been investigated. This study aimed to explore the experiences of simulation clinical educators. Participants were ten simulation clinical educators who had supported speech-language pathology students' learning during a 5-day simulation program focussed on speech-language pathology practice with adult clients in acute hospital and rehabilitation settings. Educators participated in individual semi-structured interviews exploring their role and their perceptions of the simulation-based learning program. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Three inter-related themes emerged from participants' views. The major theme of Unique teaching and learning environment incorporated five subthemes: focus on teaching; safe learning environment; authenticity and engagement; structure and intensity of learning, and; feedback opportunities. Two additional themes were identified: Clinical educator role same but different, and Simulation bridges the gap between theory and practice. This study offers new insights into simulation clinical educators' perceptions of their role when supporting students within simulation and highlight the importance of harnessing the unique benefits of simulation as a teaching pedagogy to maximize its impacts on student learning and justify its costs.

Purpose: Clinical education is a key component of speech-language pathology university curriculum, whereby students have the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge and practical skills learned in the classroom into a real workplace. However, more recently the availability of high quality, consistent clinical placements and learning experiences across the range of practice areas in the discipline is reducing. Therefore, alternative clinical learning opportunities that enable students to develop skills and competencies are being explored. Recently, replacing clinical time with a simulated learning program has been shown to achieve equivalent levels of clinical competency in speech pathology. However, it is unknown how simulation impacts on student learning in traditional clinical placements. Therefore, this research explored clinical educators' perceptions of students undertaking clinical placements in their workplace immediately following a five-day simulation-based learning program related to the same area of practice. Method: Thirty-five clinical educators who supervised students in the workplace immediately after they completed the simulation program participated in semi-structured interviews. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using qualitative methods described by Graneheim and Lundman (2004). Result: The analysis identified four key themes related to the impact of students in the workplace, simulation priming students for learning, the importance of the transition from simulation-based learning to the workplace, and the role of simulation in clinical education programs. Conclusion: The use of simulation to support student learning and develop clinical skills and competencies in adult speech pathology practice is supported by workplace clinical educators. However, results of this study suggest that the simulation program needs to be embedded within the curriculum and clinical education program to enhance transition between learning experiences and maximize benefits of learning experiences in real workplace contexts.

Background: Bridging the research-practice gap in autism communication services is an identified priority for improving services. Limited research has investigated the views of practitioners regarding this research-practice gap. Investigation of the barriers experienced and facilitators used in clinical practice may assist to identify scalable and sustainable strategies to increase use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in the delivery of communication services to children with autism. Aims: To elucidate how Australian speech pathologists engage with external evidence and how communication outcomes are measured to demonstrate the effectiveness of service provision to children with autism. Methods & Procedures: A total of 15 Australian speech pathologists, with experience ranging from less than 1 to more than 16 years, participated in three focus groups. Data from focus groups were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis within an interpretive phenomenological paradigm. Outcomes & Results: Seven themes were identified. Participants reported on the diversity of individuals with autism, their experiences of resource constraints, seeking collegial advice and accessing a diverse range of evidence sources, the role of clinical expertise in translating evidence to practice, the barriers experienced in outcome measurement and use of stakeholders to facilitate data collection to demonstrate outcomes. Conclusions & Implications: Individual practitioner skill and beliefs are facilitators to translating research to practice. Interventions to improve clinician use of EBP should address the skill and belief barriers, aiming to increase a clinician's EBP self-efficacy and increasing their expectation that investing in EBP activities will result in improved services for children with autism. Modelling and reflective practice are two strategies that may have an application as interventions to improve EBP use in clinical practice.

Background: Prioritized research agendas are viewed internationally as an important method for ensuring that health research meets actual areas of clinical need. There is growing evidence for speech-language therapy-prioritized research agendas, particularly in disorder-specific areas. However, there are few general research priority agendas to guide speech-language therapy research. Aims: To collaboratively develop a prioritized research agenda for an Australian public health context with clinical speech-language therapists (SLTs), academic SLTs and consumers of speech-language therapy services. Methods & Procedures: An initial stimulus list of potential research areas for prioritization was collected from SLTs via an online survey. Two categories (service delivery and expanded scope of practice) were selected from this list for prioritization due to their relevance across multiple health services. The Nominal Group Technique (NGT) was used to develop a prioritized research agenda for each of the two categories. One NGT session was conducted with each of the three participant groups (clinical SLTs, academic SLTs, consumers) for each category (total NGT sessions = six). The prioritization data for each group within each category were summed to give a single, ranked prioritized research agenda for each category. Outcomes & Results: Two prioritized research agendas were developed. Within each agenda, SLTs and consumers prioritized a need for more research in areas related to specific practice areas (e.g., Alternative and Augmentative Communication, Communication Partner Training), as well as broader professional issues (e.g., telehealth, working with culturally and linguistically diverse families). Conclusions & Implications: The current findings support the need for funding proposals and targeted projects that address these identified areas of need.

Background: Research suggests that some speech-language pathologists are uncomfortable treating people who stutter. Accessing quality clinical education experiences in stuttering is difficult given the ongoing rise in students enrolled in speech-language pathology programmes and the limited number of stuttering-specific placements available. Simulation-based learning is a viable option for providing speech-language pathology students with practical experience in a safe learning environment. Whilst research has found that simulation-based learning experiences in stuttering assist in the development of students' clinical skills, students' perceptions of participating in stuttering simulation-based learning are yet to be explored. Aims: To investigate speech-language pathology students' comfort, anxiety, knowledge and confidence in the management of stuttering at the commencement of an academic stuttering course and before and following participation in a stuttering simulation-based learning programme. Methods & Procedures: This study used a cross-sectional survey design. Participants were 105 undergraduate and graduate entry masters speech-language pathology students enrolled at an Australian university. Students engaged in a stuttering simulation-based learning programme embedded within an existing academic course on the management of stuttering. A purposefully developed survey was administered at three time points: pre-course (T1), pre-simulation (T2) and post-simulation (T3) in order to explore students' comfort and anxiety levels, and perceptions of their knowledge and confidence in stuttering management. Descriptive statistics were used to report the medians and range of students' responses. Changes across all time points and between each of the time points were determined using the Friedman test and the Wilcoxon signed rank test, respectively. Outcomes & Results: Statistically significant differences (p < 0.001) were observed on all matched survey items (n = 96) across all time points. Between each time point, a significant difference in students' perceived knowledge levels was found with small to large effect sizes. However, there was no difference in students' perceived comfort and anxiety levels between the time points of pre-course and pre-simulation. Open-ended responses on the post-simulation survey revealed that students valued learning about stuttering within a simulation-based learning environment. Conclusions & Implications: Simulation-based learning experience in stuttering management was valued by students. When accompanied by theoretical content, participation in a stuttering simulation-based learning programme supported students to feel more comfortable and less anxious about working with people who stutter. This finding has implications for the development of clinical skills in the assessment and treatment of adults who stutter.

Background: Simulation-based learning can be used in university programmes to provide speech-language pathology students with essential clinical experiences. However, limited research has explored the use of simulation to support students' development of skills in clinical practice with people who stutter. Aims: (1) To evaluate students' clinical skills in managing stuttering within a simulation-based learning programme; (2) to develop an assessment tool, the Standardised Patient Interview Rating Scale for Stuttering (SPIRS-Stuttering); and (3) to conduct a preliminary investigation of its validity in measuring students' performance. Methods & Procedures: Speech-language pathology students (n = 114) participated in a simulation-based stuttering programme in addition to academic coursework in fluency disorders. Students' clinical skills were assessed over two simulation sessions using the SPIRS-Stuttering tool, adapted from an earlier iteration of the SPIRS tool. Content validity, intra-rater reliability and internal consistency of the SPIRS-Stuttering tool were also explored. Outcomes & Results: Students demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in stuttering clinical skills between sessions 1 and 4 of the simulation-based stuttering programme. Good content validity was achieved for the SPIRS-Stuttering tool with a low level of intra-rater reliability and variable internal consistency. Conclusions & Implications: This study identified that students' clinical skills in stuttering improved during participation in a simulation-based programme undertaken in conjunction with an academic course on fluency disorders. The results of this study support the inclusion of this learning modality in university programme curricula. Whilst the SPIRS-Stuttering tool enabled assessment of speech-language pathology students' clinical skills in stuttering management, further exploration of reliability is required.

Background: Simulation-based learning provides students with a safe learning environment, guaranteed exposure to specific clinical scenarios and patients, time for reflection and repetition of tasks, and an opportunity to receive feedback from multiple sources. Research including studies specific to allied health training programmes have demonstrated that simulation-based learning also helps increase learners' confidence and reduces anxiety related to clinical environments, activities and skills. Such evidence, together with increasing challenges in provision of workplace clinical education, has supported an expansion of integrating simulation-based learning into university curricula. Aims: To provide detailed information about the processes and considerations involved in the development of a simulation-based learning programme for speech-language pathology. Methods & Procedures: Through reflection on the development process of a 5-day simulation-based learning programme, and in light of existing research in simulation, this paper outlines the important steps and considerations required for the development of a simulation-based learning programme to support student competency development in adult speech pathology range of practice areas. Main Contribution: A proposed framework for the development of future simulation-based learning programmes in speech-language pathology. Conclusions & Implications: The framework can be applied to simulation-based learning for university programmes and/or workplace training in speech-language pathology and across several other health disciplines.

Background: The management of tracheoesophageal speech (TES) rehabilitation is an area of speech and language therapists' (SLTs) clinical practice where knowledge and skills are primarily developed through postgraduate workplace experience and training. Although recent research suggests clinicians in Australia perceive there is adequate access to workplace training, little is known about how clinicians develop and/or maintain clinical confidence when working in this specialist caseload. Aims: To investigate factors that contribute to development of clinician confidence as well as the factors that impact on improving and maintaining confidence when working in the clinical area of TES rehabilitation. Methods & Procedures: SLTs working in an Australian clinical service and in a current or recent caseload including patients using TES were eligible to participate. A total of 36 SLTs were recruited and then grouped by level of experience (novice n = 15, intermediate n = 7, experienced n = 14). Ten focus groups of 60-min duration were conducted each with three to four participants from the same experience level. A semi-structured interview guide was used to facilitate the discussion of issues relating to training and confidence; however, only the content pertaining to clinical confidence is reported. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the transcripts. Outcomes & Results: Four themes were identified as contributing to the development of confidence: training, exposure, accessing support and mentorship, and leadership opportunities. Three themes were identified as critical for improving or maintaining clinical confidence: ongoing management of a caseload, ongoing support and further learning. An additional overarching theme was the desire for SLTs to classify or quantify their level of confidence, typically using a numeric scale or in years of clinical experience. The impact of varying contexts and caseloads on confidence levels was highlighted by all participants, but particularly those in the novice focus groups. Conclusions & Implications: The findings highlight the fact that the acquisition and maintenance of confidence is an ongoing consideration for SLTs, both those starting out and those with years of clinical experience. With patient presentation increasing in complexity, the importance of understanding contributing factors for gaining and maintaining confidence should be considered alongside postgraduate training and the provision of ongoing support for SLTs working in this specialized clinical area, regardless of experience level.

Background: It has long been recognized that tracheoesophageal speech (TES) rehabilitation after laryngectomy is a specialized area of practice for speech and language therapist (SLTs) due to the complex nature of patient presentation and the invasive components of the SLT's role in this area. Therefore, postgraduate experience and training is required to work competently and safely in this clinical area. However, it is generally acknowledged that the steps and processes followed by individual clinicians to achieve this training and clinical skill development are inconsistent and vary widely across services. There is a need to identify critical elements deemed most beneficial to clinical skill development in order to inform future training models. Aims: To explore clinicians' perceptions of factors that contribute to training and clinical skills development in the area of TES rehabilitation post-laryngectomy. Methods & Procedures: All participants were SLTs working in an Australian clinical service, with a current or recent clinical caseload that included patients using TES. A total of 36 SLTs were recruited and then grouped by level of experience (novice n = 15, intermediate n = 7, experienced n = 14). Each participant took part in one small focus group with other participants of similar experience level. Ten focus groups were conducted, each of approximately 60 min in duration. A semi-structured interview guide was used to facilitate the discussion of issues relating to training in this area. Thematic analysis was used to analyse transcripts and identify themes. Outcomes & Results: Interviews identified six key themes, including: Learning with and from others; Formal programmes; Hands-on learning; Processes that influence training; and Individual influences. SLTs reported both positive issues and elements that were challenging across all five themes. The final (sixth) theme was identified regarding clinician perceptions of how this area differed to specialized training in other areas of the profession. The majority of themes were discussed equally by clinicians across all three experience levels. Conclusions & Implications: Participants across all experience levels identified that multiple factors contributed to clinicians successfully gaining skills, understanding and competency when working in TES rehabilitation post-laryngectomy. These factors, when fully considered and incorporated into future SLTs training pathways and opportunities, have the potential to optimize competency, skill acquisition and maintenance in this area.

AbstractPurposeMethodResultConclusionTranslation of research is requisite for speech-language pathologists; however, barriers have been reported. This review aimed to identify the extant literature published on communication for autistic children, and examine the replicability and translatability of communication interventions for speech-language pathologists providing services to children with autism.A scoping review was conducted using a six-stage protocol. Following initial database searching and screening, data were extracted from included studies for demographic characteristics and Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist elements. Stakeholder consultation interviews with 13 speech-language pathologists who work with autistic children were also undertaken.The database search revealed 4719 studies on the topic of communication in autistic children, of which 762 were communication intervention studies. Of these included intervention studies, 30% were considered replicable according to the TIDieR checklist. Stakeholder consultation revealed that poorly described intervention studies hindered translation efforts.The vast amount of autism communication intervention literature and the variable quality of intervention description reporting are barriers to accessing high quality literature for translation to practice. Improved reporting of intervention descriptions in autism communication intervention studies would support research translation into clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare the microhardness values and bottom/top hardness ratios of different composites after being cured in 2 or 4 mm increments. Methods: Two bulk fill composites. methacrylate-based and ormocer-based. and one conventional composite were tested. 36 cylindrical discs were prepared (n=12/composite, with six for 2 mm, and six for 4 mm thickness) by pressing each composite into a mold between two glass slides covered by Mylar strips. The top and bottom surfaces of each sample were evaluated using a Buehler hardness tester for Knoop microhardness, with a 50 g static load applied for 10 seconds at three different locations of the central part of each sample. The bottom/top hardness ratio was calculated for each sample. The Knoop microhardness data and bottom/top ratio percentages were analyzed using two-way repeated measures ANOVA and Holm-Sidak post hoc test, with significance at P< 0.05. Results: The tested methacrylate-based bulk fill had the highest overall microhardness among the three tested composites. All three composite types showed a significant difference in microhardness between the top and bottom of the 4 mm discs. The bottom/top ratio percentages differed significantly for both tested bulk fill composites across different thicknesses. Both tested bulk fill materials had a bottom/top ratio of 2 80% at the deepest level of a 4 mm increment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: There is poor reporting of the cost of simulation and greater transparency is needed. The primary study aim was to conduct a financial analysis of the university/training institution costs associated with a 5-day simulation-based learning program for speech–language pathology students. The secondary aim was to consider the economic costs of the model. Method: Costs associated with the delivery of a 5-day simulation-based learning program for speech–language pathology students from six Australian universities were collected regarding: (a) pre-program training, (b) personnel, (c) room hire, (d) equipment, and (e) consumables. Both financial costs and economic costs (Australian dollar, at June 2017) were calculated per university site, and per student. Result: The simulation program was run 21 times involving 176 students. Average total financial cost per program ranged from $4717 to $11 425, with cost variation primarily attributed to local labour costs and various use of in-kind support. Average financial cost per student was $859 (range $683–$1087), however this was almost double ($1461 per student, range $857–$2019) in the economic cost calculation. Personnel was the largest contributing cost component accounting for 76.6% of financial costs. Personnel was also the highest contributing cost in the economic analysis, followed by room hire. Conclusion: This study provides clarity regarding financial and economic costing for a 5-day simulation-based learning program. These data can help universities consider potential up-front financial costs, and well as strategies for financial cost minimisation, when implementing simulation-based learning within the university context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Standardized patients (SPs) are frequently included in the clinical preparation of students in the health sciences. An acknowledged benefit of using SPs is the opportunity to provide a standardized method by which students can demonstrate and develop their competency. Relatively little is known, however, about the capacity of SPs to offer an accurate and standardized performance across a speech-language therapy student cohort. Aims: To investigate the accuracy, reproducibility (consistent performance of each SP across student interviews) and replicability (consistent performance of a number of SPs across each scenario) of SPs portraying three scenarios, each as a parent of a child presenting with a speech disorder. Methods & Procedures: Forty-four speech-language therapy students interviewed four SPs to gain a case history. All interviews were videotaped. The accuracy of SP portrayal of key features of each scenario was scored by an expert rater and two other raters. Data were analysed to determine levels of accuracy, reproducibility and replicability, and inter-rater reliability was evaluated. Outcomes & Results: SPs were found to have moderate to high levels of accuracy across the three scenarios. There were no significant differences in the performances of each individual SP across interviews or between all SPs on each scenario, indicating that reproducibility and replicability were achieved. Overall inter-rater reliability between raters across all scenarios was greater than 80%. Conclusions & Implications: The results would seem to indicate that SPs can present in a standardized manner within a speech-language therapy context, confirming the value of their inclusion in clinical education programmes. Suggestions for improving the training of SPs in order to maintain accuracy are highlighted.

Background: Reflective practice is reported to enhance clinical reasoning and therefore to maximize client outcomes. The inclusion of targeted reflective practice in academic programmes in speech-language therapy has not been consistent, although providing opportunities for speech-language therapy students to reflect during their clinical practice has been reported. Indeed, there has been limited investigation of the nature of speech-language therapy students' reflections. Aims: (1) To describe the breadth and depth of reflection skills of novice speech-language therapy students by utilizing structured reflective learning journals. (2) To evaluate the use of a coding system to determine its reliability and relevance in identifying reflection skills. Methods & Procedures: Participants were 52 students in their second year of a 4-year undergraduate speech-language therapy programme. Mean participant age was 20.5 years; all students were female. Participants completed guided written reflections following three interviews with a standardized patient (an actor portraying a parent of a child with delayed speech development). Reflections were coded by two raters. Nine participants' reflections were recoded by raters A and B to establish intra-rater reliability. Inter-rater reliability between these two raters was calculated and a third rater completed coding of 20% of students' reflections to further establish inter-rater reliability. Outcomes & Results: Results indicated that the majority of students were categorized as "reflectors". All students demonstrated at least one element of reflection. Their reflective writing primarily focused on a discussion of the content of and strategies used within the interviews, and reflection on and for action. Results also indicated that the coding system used within the study was reliable in determining both the breadth and depth of student reflections. Conclusions & Implications: This study found that novice speech-language therapy students can reflect on their clinical learning experiences within a structured clinical environment involving standardized patients. Only a small number of novice students were found to be critical reflectors who were able to analyse the content of clinical interviews, view the interaction from the perspective of the patient, and record changes to their own perspective which occurred as a result. The coding system was established as reliable and thus relevant for use in furthering research on reflective practice within speech-language therapy and other disciplines. Further investigation of reflective skills within other clinical environments and with additional clinical experience is recommended. (Contains 7 tables and 2 figures.)

When young children first come to school they bring with them a depth of being; the authors suggest that the educational community should respond to children with a pedagogy that is capable of nurturing this depth. The authors of this paper are teachers of many years' experience. Their own work in classrooms has shown them that, paradoxically, depth in pedagogy is most surely to be found when teachers follow the light in the eyes of children. The authors draw upon a selection of vignettes and narratives taken from classroom experiences to describe how this is done. They also show how children and teachers can approach the complex learning that requires transcendence of the known. Notions of relational consciousness (Hay, 2000), as well as ethical and spiritual sensibility (Hay & Nye, 1998) are developed through reference to a range of educators including Bronson Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Dewey, Stanley Cavell, Maxine Greene, Nell Noddings, Vivan Paley and Arthur Vogel. The broader educational community is reminded that school experiences should balance the measurable and the immeasurable. The authors question some aspects of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (PL 107-110), sharing their concern that it may focus teachers' attention too tightly on "that which is formed from without" (Dewey, 1938, p. 17). The authors suggest that the weight of this legislation may result in the neglect of some very important aspects of learning. The broader educational community is invited to consider the implications of a pedagogy of depth, to become more aware of the skill of transcending known limitations through coming to shared understanding, and to find ways to reconcile the potential violence of legislated structures with the being-in-the-world of children in schools.

Purpose: To evaluate and compare the effects of different scaling and polishing techniques on the surface roughness of four different restorative materials. Methods: 72 specimens were prepared, molded to a size of 8.0 by 2.0 mm, and cured according to the manufacturers' instructions. The specimens were stored at 37°C for 24 hours and then thermocycled for 5,000 cycles (from 55°C to 5°C) to simulate 6 months of clinical use. Surface roughness (Ra/average and Rz/max-overall heights) was calculated using a stylus profilometer by subtracting the simulated treatments of hand scaling, ultrasonic scaling, and air polishing from the baseline measurements. The difference in Ra and Rz data were compared independently for each measurement using a two-way ANOVA on Ranks and the Holm-Sidak test, with α < 0.05 used to determine significance. Results: Irrespective of the scaling or polishing technique employed, flowable bulk fill demonstrated the lowest Ra and Rz values. Hand scaling exhibited the highest roughness and variability among the other techniques, regardless of the materials tested (P < 0.001). Air polishing with glycine resulted in the lowest roughness values across all tested materials, with the exception of the tested bioactive restorative material group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the development and evaluation of the video Observation Tool for Interprofessional Skills (VOTIS). We describe the development of an authentic interprofessional assessment tool that incorporates video reflection and allows formative and summative assessment of individual learners' interprofessional skills within an authentic interprofessional context. We then investigate its validity and reliability. The VOTIS was developed using a modified Delphi technique. The tool was piloted with 61 students and 11 clinical educators who completed the VOTIS following team meetings where students interacted about their interprofessional clinical work. The following were calculated: internal consistency; students' proficiency levels; inter-rater reliability between students and clinical educators; and inter-rater reliability between clinical educators and an independent rater. Results indicate that the VOTIS has acceptable internal consistency and moderate reliability and has value in evaluating students' interprofessional skills. Study outcomes highlight the need for more explicit wording of tool content and instructions and further clinical educator training to increase the utility and reliability of the VOTIS as a learning and assessment tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) requires a new way of working characterized by distributed leadership skills, shared decision-making, and the adoption of uniprofessional and interprofessional identities. Health professional educators are tasked with preparing clinicians for IPCP through interprofessional education (IPE). Numerous IPE teaching interventions have been developed, ranging in length from hours to semesters, designed to introduce students to interprofessional ways of working – usually evaluated in terms of student satisfaction, perceptions of other disciplines and conceptual knowledge. However, working interprofessionally also requires integrating dispositional knowledge into one's emerging interprofessional habits and values. In this paper, we describe a learning activity, inspired by a new video-reflexive methodology, designed to foster dispositional learning of interprofessional skills using a video-based assessment tool: the Video Observation Tool for Interprofessional Skills (VOTIS). Based on focus group and interview data, we suggest the activity's usefulness in fostering conceptual, procedural and dispositional knowledge, as well as reflexive feedback literacy. Overall, our qualitative evaluation of the VOTIS suggests the merits of drawing on video-reflexive methodology and pedagogical theory to re-imagine IPE as a dynamic process, requiring the development of interprofessional skills that must be appropriated into students' emerging (inter)professional identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finishing and polishing of composite resin restorations may cause damage to the bordering enamel. Although many studies have investigated the effect of polish on restorative materials, few have quantified the effect on bordering enamel. The objective of this study was to compare enamel loss surrounding composite restorations after finishing and polishing sequences. The null hypothesis was that there would be no difference in enamel loss between different finishing and polishing sequences. Class V preparations on the buccal and lingual surfaces of 15 extracted human molars were restored with a composite resin and assigned to 1 of 2 finishing and polishing sequences, so that each tooth underwent both sequences (n = 15 per sequence). In sequence 1, a tungsten carbide finishing bur and aluminum oxide polishing discs were used; in sequence 2, a diamond finishing bur, aluminum oxide-impregnated finishing cup, and diamond-impregnated polishing cup were used. Tooth surfaces were scanned with an optical scanner after preparation, finishing, initial polishing, and final polishing. The finishing and polishing scans were aligned to the preparation scan using Cumulus software. The depth of enamel surface loss was calculated and statistically analyzed (a = 0.05; paired t test). Most enamel loss (mean [SD]) resulted from the finishing step with the tungsten carbide bur (51.8 [21.3] nm) or diamond bur (43.3 [12.6] pm). Each polishing step increased mean enamel loss by only a few microns. There was no statistically significant difference between the 2 finishing and polishing sequences. The majority of enamel damage during finishing and polishing of composite resin restorations resulted from the finishing burs. Little enamel was removed by either of the tested composite resin polishing systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Placements have an important role in the competency development of speech-language pathology students. Using data from 121 student questionnaires and a new graduate focus group, we used thematic analysis to explore clinical education from the perspective of speech-language pathology students and new graduates. Five themes were identified: university factors, placement factors, student factors, learning in real world, and transition to work. Findings suggest curriculum design and the quality of placements are important factors for student learning and new graduate transition to the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background During clinical placements, clinical educators facilitate student learning. Previous research has defined the skills, attitudes and practices that pertain to an ideal clinical educator. However, less attention has been paid to the role of student readiness in terms of foundational knowledge and attitudes at the commencement of practice education. Therefore, the aim of this study was to ascertain clinical educators’ views on the characteristics that they perceive demonstrate that a student is well prepared for clinical learning. Methods A two round on-line Delphi study was conducted. The first questionnaire was emailed to a total of 636 expert clinical educators from the disciplines of occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech pathology. Expert clinical educators were asked to describe the key characteristics that indicate a student is prepared for a clinical placement and ready to learn. Open-ended responses received from the first round were subject to a thematic analysis and resulted in six themes with 62 characteristics. In the second round, participants were asked to rate each characteristic on a 7 point Likert Scale. Results A total of 258 (40.56%) responded to the first round of the Delphi survey while 161 clinical educators completed the second (62.40% retention rate). Consensus was reached on 57 characteristics (six themes) using a cut off of greater than 70% positive respondents and an interquartile deviation IQD of equal or less than 1. Conclusions This study identified 57 characteristics (six themes) perceived by clinical educators as indicators of a student who is prepared and ready for clinical learning. A list of characteristics relating to behaviours has been compiled and could be provided to students to aid their preparation for clinical learning and to universities to incorporate within curricula. In addition, the list provides a platform for discussions by professional bodies about the role of placement education.