Duty of care in clinical education in Australian part II

Objective: In Australia, the Code of Conduct for osteopaths states practitioners must take care of patients as their first concern, to practise safely and effectively, and among other activities, to engage in teaching and supervision. This study aims to explore: 1) the extent to which clinical educators are familiar with their duty of care responsibilities during clinical education and 2) clinical educators' preparation, understanding of key principles of law, and their learning needs.Method: This qualitative study using document analysis and a purpose-built online survey distributed among allied health clinical educators.Results: Responses received from seventeen educators associated with seven Australian universities. Thematic content analysis revealed most are aware they owe a duty to a patient; less that they owe a duty to the student and; many do not understand the elements of legal disputes of negligence. Not all understood poor standards of record-keeping and a lack of documentation of student's progress may be issues of legal debate in negligence cases.Conclusion: Why clinical educators do not understand all the elements of legal disputes of negligence and how they might apply during clinical education events was not determined. It is time to review the preparation of clinical educators to ensure they have all the knowledge they need when they support students' clinical education - the knowledge they need to ensure the principles of patient-centredness, student-centredness and safety are upheld.