Facilitating Clinical Learners

Introduction to Adult Education and Lifelong Learning

The aim of the current in-service is to facilitate the learning of the adult clinical practitioners using the principles of adult learning. The topic of relevance chosen for the current study is clinical history taking.

What is Learning?

The process through which new knowledge and understanding is acquired is considered as learning. The definition of learning provided by psychologists indicates toward a permanent behavioral change as a result of experience (Jarvis, 2012).

Definition of Learning Style

Auditory
Visual
Kinesthetic
Others
Reflector
Theorist
Pragmatist
Activist

The common learning styles for adult learners include visual, auditory and kinesthetic and others might include reflection, theoretical, pragmatism and activism among which the identified self learning style is visual and reflection (Honey & Mumford, 2000). It can be stated that learners that learn visually are required to be provided with visual inputs such as presentation which accelerates the rate of their learning. On the other hand, reflectors are needed to think and review the learning materials for internalizing them.

Kolbs Model of Learning

According to this model, when an individual gathers experience in a particular field that experience is reviewed by the learners for finding inconsistencies between understanding and experience. Here, the learners might incorporate learning experience of taking history gathered from university course. Concluding after reviewing the experience such as workshop in history taking an adult tends to indulge in active experimentation of the experience. For instance, clinical learners might require assistance in developing understanding about how to elicite responses to particular questions related to patient’s history and they will naturally tend to apply the knowledge for being successful in learning history taking.

Clinical Skills Development

There are several general and specific approaches that are used for extracting maximum relevant information from the patients. It helps in understanding the issues from the point of view of the patients which leads to better and trustworthy relationship between the health professional and the patient.

Dreyfus and Dreyfus 1986 Model

This model associate awareness with learning of adult practitioners

Unconscious incompetence
Conscious incompetence
Conscious competence
Unconscious competence

Prior to the learning experience gathered, the learners remain unaware of their competence. However, after learning and gathering experience, learners reach the stage of unconscious competence. A seminar can be arranged for developing insight about personal competence.

Six Adult Learning Principles

Adult learners are required to be given with the opportunity to apply their experiences into their current learning. Along with this, they require an environment where they can work and learn autonomously where there will be no threat to self concept. For instance, too much interference of supervisors might lead to difficulty in learning the tactics of taking history which is also the self-learning style. Additionally, the clinical learners are also are needed to be introduced to the real life task problems such as incorporation of role play and constant feedback to be provided upon their progress for learning (Health Education and Training Institute, 2012).

Conclusion on Adult Education and Lifelong Learning

History taking is a multidimensional work with various skills to be implemented to get the best out of the patient regarding information gathering. The pace and quality of learning is dependent upon the characteristics of the learner and their learning style. Here, the adult learning principles will be incorporated into the discussion.

Reference List for Adult Education and Lifelong Learning

Dolan, B., &Hinchliff, S. (2017). The Practitioner as Teacher (4th ed.). Elsevier.

Health Education and Training Institute, (2012). The Learning Guide a handbook for allied health professionals facilitating learning in the workplace. Sydney: HETI, 2012

Honey, P. & Mumford, A. (2000). The learning styles helper's guide. Maidenhead: Peter Honey Publications Ltd

Jarvis, P. (2012). Adult education and lifelong learning : Theory and practice.

McKimm, J. (2009). Giving effective feedback. British Journal Of Hospital Medicine (London, England: 2005), 70(3), 158–161

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