Handbook of Clinical Teaching: Exercises and Guidelines for Health Professionals Who Teach Patients, Train Staff, or Supervise Students.

The author wrote this book for health practitioners in a variety of disciplines and professions. It is aimed at both experienced and inexperienced clinical educators and provides practice exercises in each chapter. It is an excellent resource for health care professionals who teach patients (clients), students, family members, or personnel in a clinical setting.

The book's seven chapters focus on styles of learning and teaching, development of objectives, learner motivation, selected methods of instruction, evaluating teaching and learning, learner differences and teacher differences, and organizing an ongoing teaching process. Each chapter contains the following: a brief section presenting concepts and methods related to selected aspects of teaching, practice exercises to help readers apply concepts and methods, feedback from the author about how to benefit from the practice exercises (suggestions for self-evaluation and ways to resolve simulated problems and situations), and references. Also found in each chapter is an annotated bibliography and an appendix, to help readers find references in various profesional jounals.

The practice exercises are the primary components of each chapter. Some of the exercises can be completed independently, but others require participation by others. These exercises are designed to help readers develop problem-solving skills related to the content of each chapter; the exercises also help readers increase their knowledge of the concepts and themes presented in each chapter. The exercises simulate different student, patient, and family situations and can be applied in any health profession. A variety of approaches are used to structure the exercises, such as rating forms, checklists, self-evaluation of process activities, completion of worksheets, and discussion sessions.

In preparing the feedback material, the author relied on her experiences with clinical teaching and her relationships with experienced clinical educators from different professions. Because of her experiences, the author was able to develop realistic and practical exercises. Her suggestions about solutions and feedback for the exercises are relevant and respond to the complex issues often associated with simulations.

This handbook would be valuable to health professionals who are involved in the clinical teaching of students, patients, family members, and personnel. Although the book lacks depth in theory, it offers many suggestions and skills to help readers develop better teaching skills. The author also identifies opportunities for interprofessional collaboration and interaction to help readers improve their clinical teaching skills. Readers who compare their solutions to the practice exercises with those solutions provided by the author will gain the most benefit from their efforts. Clinicians who are involved in the clinical education of physical therapy students or physical therapist assistant students should find the book helpful.

FRank M Pierson, PT The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio