Failing professional practice placements in allied health : What do we understand about the student experience? A scoping review

Professional practice placements are an essential component of allied health and nursing programs. Whilst most students pass these placements, a small percentage of students will fail or be at risk of failing. Supporting students undergoing a failing experience is a time critical, time consuming, emotional and resource-heavy task which is often undertaken by key university staff and impacts all stakeholders. Whilst several studies have provided insight into this experience from the educator and/or university perspective, this scoping review aimed to identify the students’ experience of failing or nearly failing a professional practice experience. Following Arskey and O’Malley’s framework for scoping reviews, 24 papers were included in this review. This review generated six themes including the reasons for failure, how failure looks and feels, how supports, service and strategies influence the student experience of failure, the importance of communication, relationships and organisational culture, the impact infrastructure and policies have, and the consequences of failure. The outcomes of this scoping review highlighted three key characteristics of the research to date: (a) the student voice is still largely missing; (b) the student perspective is distinctly different to that of other stakeholders; and (c) the interventions used appear not to be student-informed or student-led. Better understanding this experience from the student’s perspective could create a more sustainable practice education environment by designing and implementing more effective supports, services or strategies that reduce the overall impact a failing experience has on students and key stakeholders.

© The Author(s) 2023

Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions. The authors did not receive any funds, grants, or other supports for this review or preparation of this manuscript.

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