Abstract

Evaluation of the Blended Learning Health Science Graduates by Health Community Preceptors

Background and Objectives: Studies about internships are mostly done on the internship experiences of interns who received traditional face-to-face education, but limited studies were done on interns who studied under a blended learning educational style. Similarly, most studies on the professional competencies of health sciences graduates are done on the graduates of traditional schools. This study aims to describe the professional competencies of blended learning health sciences graduates through community preceptors’ evaluations of interns in Saudi Arabia.

Methods: This study is a secondary analysis of existing data that are available from the College of Health Sciences at the Saudi Electronic University. The study population consists of 96 community preceptors who evaluated 90 health sciences, undergraduate interns, during the last six months of 2019.

Results: Data analysis is a descriptive method that provides simple statistics related to evaluation variables. The 90 interns were distributed to 47 different internship sites, 83.33% were from the health informatics major while 16.67% were from the public health major. The study tested the technical competencies, nontechnical competencies, and employee perceptions of interns. The mean scores for technical and nontechnical competencies represent positive evaluations of health sciences interns who graduated from undergraduate blended programs. The standard deviations <1 indicate that most responses are close to the mean scores. The modes for all competencies are excellent. Of the 96 evaluations, more than 90% answered “YES” to hiring blended learning health sciences, graduates.

Conclusions: From the perception of community preceptors, blended learning graduates who majored in health sciences are competent and well prepared to be employed in the health sector in Saudi Arabia and globally.

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