Dr. Anne O'Connor is Lead of Practice Education for the BSc programme (Physiotherapy) at the School of Allied Health, University of Limerick. She has a specific research interest in practice-based education of health professional students and the professional development of health professional educators. She was awarded a Health Professional Fellowship by the Health Research Board, Ireland in May 2016 to undertake her PhD entitled 'Unwrapping the layers of complexity of clinical performance assessment of physiotherapy students and identifying key stakeholders' preferences towards enhancing the process.' Further HRB funding (KEDS award) led to her conducting a national seminar series on performance-based assessment for work-based educators, academics and professional bodies in 2019. Her PhD research has prompted a revision of the Common Assessment Form (WBA tool currently used in physiotherapy education in Ireland) which she is leading at a national level. She was also awarded funding from the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching & Learning in 2020 where she undertook post-doctoral research to implement and evaluate a system for the integration of feedback to enhance student learning in UL. She is PI on a study investigating resilience, stress and coping strategies of health professional students on graduate entry programmes in UL. Anne has published and presented widely in the area of practice education in internationally peer reviewed journals, and interdisciplinary conferences.
Research Interests
Work-based assessment
Teaching, Learning and Assessment in the clinical learning environment
Teaching and assessment of reflective practice
Resilience, stress levels and coping strategies among health professional students
Integration of feedback for the enhancement of learning
Models of practice education used in the workplace
Continuing Professional Development of health professionals
Professional Activities
Education
2019 University of Limerick - PhD (Work-based assessment in physiotherapy education)
2009 National University of Ireland - Graduate Diploma Clinical Teaching
2005 Manchester Metropolitan University - M.Sc. Science of Sports Injury
1997 Trinity College Dublin - BSc (Physiotherapy)
Award
2019 - National T&L Forum Initiative Type 003/19 (50,043)
2019 - Glennon Bursary (2500)
2018 - Knowledge Exchange and Dissemination Scheme (17,602)
2018 - National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching & Learning Seminar Series Grant (1000)
2016 - HRB Health Professional Fellowship (239,977)
2015 - Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists Research Bursary (500)
2008 - University of Limerick Research Seed Funding (2000)
Association
General member, Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists
General member, Association of Medical Education in Europe (AMEE)
Executive Committee, Irish Network of Health Professional Educators (Formerly INMED)
CORU registered physiotherapist, CORU
Other
Reviewer for following peer-reviewed journals: Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, International Journal of Communication and Language Disorders, Physiotherapy (UK), Physiotherapy Practice and Research (Ireland), British Journal of Nursing
Committee
DELTA Implementation Committee (formerly Teaching and Learning Committee) School of Allied Health,
Irish Network of Healthcare Educators (INHED),
Consultancy
CORU - Panel Assessor
Research Collaborators
Prof. Marjan Govaerts - Other - Maastricht University -Netherlands -Collaborator on research exploring use of feedback portfolio with students across health professional disciplines in SAH, UL.
Dr. Naomi Winstone - University of Surrey -England -Collaborator on research exploring use of feedback portfolio with students across health professional programmes
Dr. Arlene Mc Curtin - Co-supervision of PhD -PhD supervisor (complete) and co-lead on research exploring use of feedback portfolio with students across health professional programmes
Prof. Brenda Mori - Joint Publication - University of Toronto -Canada -Co-led pilot of practice tutor model of work-based learning in Canada
Professor Peter Cantillon - Co-supervision of PhD -C0-supervised my PhD, and contributed to five published papers as well as several national and international conference proceedings
Dr Melissa Parker - Co-supervision of PhD -Co-supervised PhD
Dr. Nicolas Krucien - Joint Publication - University of Aberdeen -Scotland -Assisted in data analysis and contributed to paper using Discrete Choice Experiment to determine stakeholders' preferences for the development of work-based assessment in physiotherapy
McCurtin A, Brady R, Coffey K, O'Connor A (2020) A tale of clarity and contradictions: speech and language therapist's insights regarding the highly-used treatment of thickened liquids for post-stroke aspiration.
International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation
Alpine L.M.;O'Connor A.;McGuinness M.;Barrett E.M. (2020) Performance-based assessment during clinical placement: Cross-sectional investigation of a training workshop for practice educators.
Nursing &Amp; Health Sciences
O'Connor A, Krucien N, Parker M, Cantillon P, McCurtin A (2020) Investigating physiotherapy stakeholders' preferences for the development of performance-based assessment in practice education..
Physiotherapy
Mori B.;Coleman J.;Knott K.;Newman K.;O’connor A. (2020) Designing, implementing, and evaluating a practice tutor internship model during an acute care clinical internship.
Physiotherapy Canada :177-191
Mori, B. Coleman, J. Knott, K. and O'Connor, A. (2019) Designing, Implementing and Evaluating a Practice Tutor Internship Model during an Acute Care Clinical Internship.
Physiotherapy
O'Connor, A;Cantillon, P;McGarr, O;McCurtin, A (2018) Navigating the system: Physiotherapy student perceptions of performance-based assessment.
ABINGDON : TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD Medical teacher :928-933
O'Connor, A,McCurtin, A,Cantillon, P,McGarr, O (2018) Illusions of specificity in power-laden clinical performance assessment.
Medical teacher :313-314
O'Connor A, , McGarr O, Cantillon P, McCurtin A, Clifford A. (2017) Clinical Performance Assessment Tools in Physiotherapy Practice Education; A Systematic Review.
Physiotherapy
Lowther D.;O'Connor A.;Clifford A.;O'Sullivan K. (2012) The relationship between lower limb flexibility and hamstring injury in male Gaelic footballers.
Physiotherapy Practice and Research :22-28
O'Connor, A., Cahill, M. and McKay, E.A. (2012) Revisiting 1:1 and 2:1 clinical placement models: Student and clinical educator perspectives.
Australian Occupational Therapy Journal :276-283
D Lowther, A O'Connor, A Clifford, K O'Sullivan (2012) The relationship between lower limb flexibility and injury in male Gaelic footballers.
Physiotherapy Ireland :22-28
O’Connor A. (2009) Acute effects of the weight-bearing dorsiflexion lunge stretch on gastrocnemius flexibility assessed using real-time ultrasound.
Physiotherapy Practice and Research :32-38
Coote, S; Alpine, L; Cassidy, C; Loughnane, M; McMahon, S; Meldrum, D; O'Connor, A; O'Mahoney, M (2007) The development and evaluation of a common assessment form for physiotherapy practice education in Ireland.
Physiotherapy Ireland :6-10
O'Connor, A; Sainsbury, D; Coote, S (2007) Clinical Educator and Student Experiences of Paired and Non-Paired Clinical Placements.
Physiotherapy :S463-
Kennedy, L; Lawlor, F; O'Connor, A; Dockrell, S; Gormley, J (1999) An Investigation of the effects of School Bag Carriage on Trunk Angle.
Physiotherapy Ireland :2-8
Books
This author has not written any publications of this type yet.
O'Connor A; McCreesh K (2011) Function and Dysfunction of Joint.
Edinburgh : Churchill Livingstone Principles of Neuromusculoskeletal Assessment and Treatment: A Handbook for Therapists :3-55
McCreesh K; O'Connor A (2011) Principles of Joint Treatment.
Edinburgh : Churchill Livingstone Principles of Neuromusculoskeletal Assessment and Treatment: A Handbook for Therapists. :57-82
Edited Books
This author has not written any publications of this type yet.
Other Journals
This author has not written any publications of this type yet.
O'Connor A, Mc Garr O, Cantillon P, McCurtin A. (2018) International Conference on Medical Education: authentic assessment across continuum of health professions education.
David Sainsbury, Kieran O'Sullivan, Ann Taylor,Amanda.Connell,Susan Coote,Norelee Kennedy,Amanda Clifford,Marie O'Donnell,Anne O'Connor,Karen McCreesh (2008) WCPT ¿ Europe 2nd European Conference on Physiotherapy Education.
Amanda Connell, Amanda Clifford,Karen McCreesh, Susan Coote, Norelee Kennedy, Ann Taylor, Kieran O¿Sullivan, Anne O¿Connor, David Sainsbury, Marie O¿Donnell (2008) WCPT ¿ Europe 2nd European Conference on Physiotherapy Education.
Anne O'Connor, Susan Coote, Amanda Connell, Karen McCreesh, Ann Taylor, Marie O'Donnell, Norelee Kennedy, Kieran O'Sullivan, David Sainsbury, Amanda Clifford (2008) WCPT ¿ Europe 2nd European Conference on Physiotherapy Education.
Karen McCreesh, Susan Coote, Amanda Connell, Norelee Kennedy, Ann Taylor, Kieran O¿Sullivan, Anne O¿Connor, Amanda Clifford, David Sainsbury, Marie O¿Donnell (2008) WCPT ¿ Europe 2nd European Conference on Physiotherapy Education.
Norelee Kennedy, Amanda Connell, Ann Taylor, Susan Coote, Kieran O¿Sullivan, Karen McCreesh, Anne O¿Connor, Amanda Clifford, David Sainsbury, Marie O¿Donnell. (2008) WCPT ¿ Europe 2nd European Conference on Physiotherapy Education.
Amanda Connell, Karen McCreesh, Susan Coote, Norelee Kennedy, Ann Taylor, Kieran O¿Sullivan, Amanda Clifford, Anne O¿Connor, David Sainsbury, Marie O¿Donnell (2008) WCPT ¿ Europe 2nd European Conference on Physiotherapy Education.
