A Three-Arm Delphi Process for Exploring Australian Radiography Stakeholder Prioritisation of Graduate Skill Development and their Perception of How Often These Skills are Demonstrated by Graduate Radiographers

Abstract

Introduction: Clinical skills education requires commitment from academic staff, clinical supervisors, and the students themselves to ensure the attainment of specific learning goals. The aims of this study were to identify specific skill areas that radiography education stakeholders feel are important to develop in Australian radiography students, and to evaluate how frequently the stakeholders believe graduate radiographers demonstrate these skills.

Methods: A three-arm Delphi process of consensus development was used to survey radiography academic educators, radiographers, and radiography students as three separate expert groups. Three to four rounds covered the nomination of professional skills important to participants, the rating and ranking of importance of these skills, and identification of how well the stakeholder groups feel graduate radiographers demonstrate these skills.

Results: Twenty-four stakeholders participated in the study. Thirty-four professional capabilities were identified as being important by at least one stakeholder group. Six capabilities were rated as being very or extremely important by all groups with no large differences of ratings identified between groups for the remaining capabilities. The student group felt that graduate radiographers demonstrate identified clinical skills more frequently than was perceived by the other groups. 

Conclusion: The agreement between radiographer education stakeholder groups as to the importance of identified professional capabilities indicates that each group is likely to place similar emphases on the teaching and learning of these skills. Differences of opinion between students and educators around student/graduate performance levels can inform areas for improvement in student performance and educator feedback approaches.