Clinical educators' attitudes towards the use of technology in the clinical teaching environment. A mixed methods study

Introduction In healthcare, there is ongoing flux in expectations for students and practitioners. Establishing integrated systems of monitoring and evidencing students' development is imperative. With current trends towards the use of technology in tertiary education, online learning environments (OLEs) could constitute more effective evidencing of student progress in the clinical environment. However, there is little research exploring clinical educators' experiences with implementing technology in clinical education. The research aimed to: Examine clinical educators' attitudes towards technology and its use in clinical education. Explore clinical educators' experiences of implementing technologies in a clinical environment. Methods A mixed methods approach was taken to explore the aims. A previously validated technology attitude survey (TAS) was used with slight modifications, as well as open-ended qualitative responses. These explored clinical educators' experiences of the implementation of one specific OLE (PebblePad (TM)) in their clinical environments. The survey was sent to clinical educators involved in the supervision of Medical Imaging students on clinical placement. Results Clinical educators play pivotal roles in students' professional development and, given current trends in tertiary education, are under increasing pressure to utilise OLEs. This poses particular challenges in clinical environments. Irrespective of the challenges, successful implementation of technology in any environment is dependent on the attitudes of the users. Conclusions Clinical environments have specific challenges when implementing technology such as access to computers and time constraints on practitioners. Even with positive attitudes towards technology, a change in pedagogical outlook when using technology in clinical teaching is necessary.