Clinical placement models for undergraduate health professions students: a scoping review

BACKGROUND: Clinical learning is fundamental to undergraduate health professions students. There are several calls for the transformation of health professions education, which have direct implications on clinical learning. Clinical placement models provide structure to clinical learning. Therefore, this scoping review could contribute to supporting curriculum transformation to enhance learning in the clinical environments for undergraduate health professions students. OBJECTIVES: This scoping review identified the characteristics of research evidence related to mapping the purpose, methodologies used, outcomes, and specific recommendations associated with clinical placement models in undergraduate health professions education. DESIGN: A scoping review method was used in this study. A search string developed from the title of the review was used to search online databases to identify research published between January 2000 and March 2020. RESULTS: Forty-eight articles reporting on ten clinical placement models were included in this review. The majority of these articles originated from Australia and predominantly report on nursing. The aims of these articles aligned with the evaluation of the implementation of a clinical placement model. Seven categories of outcomes of the clinical placement models are reported namely, relationships, influence, environment, facilitation, inputs, knowledge scores, and student perceptions. CONCLUSIONS: As clinical learning is fundamental to undergraduate health professions education, clinical placement models should prioritise the development of competence among undergraduate students. Insights into outcomes reported in literature could guide educators in fostering optimal learning in students who may then be able to influence community health outcomes positively.