Challenges Faced by Students, Instructors and Technologists During the Clinical Placement of Radiology Technology Students for Clinical Practices: a Qualitative Research

Background: Clinical placements are of paramount importance to medical radiology technology students, as it allows them to acquire the necessary skills to be successful technologists. The main objective of this study was to assess the challenges faced by students, instructors, and technologists during the clinical placements of radiology technology students at four College of Health Sciences-affiliated hospitals. Method: A qualitative approach using focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews was used to explore the challenges experienced by students, instructors, and technologists during the clinical placements of medical radiology technology students from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Twenty-two radiology technology students in the Department of Radiography took part in the study from an available pool of 73 students. In addition, seven out of the 19 available instructors was interviewed. Two technologists from each affiliated hospital were also selected for face-to-face interviews. A categorization approach was used to analyze the data with the goal of identifying core themes. Results: Our qualitative analysis led to the identification of nine themes from the focus group discussion and face-to-face interviews. From the students’ and instructors’ points of view, love of profession, transportation services, clinical supervision, theory-practice gap, hands-on practice, imaging modalities, availability of a skills lab, insufficient practicing area, and curriculum were considered as important factors in the clinical placement experience. Conclusion: This research showed students and instructors faced many challenges during the clinical placements of radiology technology students from Addis Ababa University, and these challenges may significantly affect the future performance of these students as technologists.Keywords: Clinical placement; health professional instructors; radiologic technologist; Ethiopia; health sciences; hospital practice; challenges