An investigation of the long term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education and clinical development of Diagnostic/Therapeutic Radiography students in Northern Ireland

Activity: Talk or presentationOral presentation

Description

Purpose:
COVID-19 has had significant impact on the education and clinical placement of students since March 2020. The
pandemic resulted in universities having to adapt to online/remote delivery of lectures whilst continuing to facilitate clinic
placements. This study explored the impact of COVID-19 on radiography education.
Methods and Materials
A Qualtrics® survey was distributed to all students in the School of Health Sciences at Ulster University, Belfast. The
survey was distributed at three timepoints (TP) to see how perceptions changed. TP 1- October 2020, TP 2- December
2020, TP 3- April 2021. Information was gathered on demographics, individual experiences clinically, academically and
personally. Analysis was performed using SPSS.
Results
89, 79, 61 and 20, 26, 21 Diagnostic (D) and Therapeutic (T) students respectively from across three years of the
programme completed the survey at three different TP’s. By TP3 students had adapted to synchronous and nonsynchronous remote learning with approximately 50% preferring teaching delivered via university and remote learning
combined. Overall 51% of D and 29% of T students reported COVID-19 had a negative impact on teaching and learning
after completion of one academic year. For those who completed clinical placements, students reported positive
experiences and the pandemic had not impacted upon their choice of career.
Conclusion
Radiography students are computer literate and quickly adapted to remote delivery of lectures. The majority of students
are keen to get back into university for teaching delivery but would like blended learning with some synchronous online
delivery maintained in the post COVID-19 world.
Period20 Aug 2021
Event titleISRRT 2021
Event typeConference
LocationIrelandShow on map
Degree of RecognitionInternational