Clinical Educator Workshop - Edmonton

April 26: 9:00-4:00

Presented by the Collaborative for Scholarship in Clinical Education (CSCE), Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta

Workshop Description:

This full day workshop is intended for clinical educators (CEs) who are interested in working with rehabilitation students in a variety of practice settings.  The morning will provide a thorough orientation to student supervision and evaluation including placement structure, clinical teaching strategies for successful placements, and discipline-specific information.  In the afternoon, participants will explore and develop skills regarding the provision of constructive feedback and the facilitation of student reflection and professional growth.  Work-readiness, professionalism and the progression of clinical reasoning towards independent, entry level practice will also be discussed.  This workshop will provide strategies and support to new CEs as well as more in-depth look at resources and strategies for more experienced CEs. 

Location: 2-07 Corbett Hall, University of Alberta

Parking:  Parking is available at Corbett Hall.  There is a fee for parking and machines can be found in the parking area. 

Refreshments:  Morning and afternoon refreshments will be provided.

Lunch:  Lunch is on your own.  There are several lunch options near Corbett Hall. 

Registration: A maximum of 70 spots are available for this workshop.  First preference for registration will be for those planing to attend the full day.  

Cost:  This workshop is provided free of charge for OT, PT, and SLP clinicians who have provided clinical placements for students from the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine or those who are planning to do so. 

To register:  Complete the registration form at the following link:  https://goo.gl/forms/3kR7mSknV2qfN1cT2

Questions:   Contact Lu-Anne McFarlane [ Luanne@ualberta.ca ] with questions or if you have difficulty with the online form.  

Thank you!

Thank you so much for your response to our recent requests for additional offers for our Level 1 students in May-June.  We have been able to secure spots for all of the students and will be contacting sites in the next little while.  As always, please feel free to contact any of the fieldwork team with questions, concerns or support while the students are with you:

Edmonton & Northern Alberta - Cherie Henderson [cherie.henderson@ualberta.ca]

Edmonton Community Independent Placements - Loraine Kolber [lkolber@ualberta.ca]

Calgary & Southern Alberta (Red Deer and south) - Jutta Hinrichs [jutta.hinrichs@ualberta.ca] 

Saskatchewan - Michele Derdall  [derdall@ualberta.ca]

Program Administrator - Michelle Green [mgreen@ualberta.ca]

Next up...Level 3A placements July & August (*some flexibility in dates)

Class notes

The Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine is interested in hearing your stories about your days at the U of A.  Check out this link to hear your former class mates stories and submit your own; 

 Class Notes - FRM

Celebrating preceptor excellence

The Rehab Medicine Student Association hosted it's annual Gala on March 25th and we were thrilled to acknowledge Clinical Educators of the Year for all three departments. This year, special recognition went to the Halvar Jonson Centre for Brain Injury - Centennial Centre for Mental Health and Brain Injury who produced both the Occupational Therapy (Gary Rowland) and Physical Therapy (Kari Kopat).  This is obviously a team and facility that excels in Clinical Education and the honor was well deserved! 

Fieldwork News: Past, Present, Future!

PAST: 

Thank you to all who came out to our Fieldwork Appreciation Events in Saskatoon and Edmonton in the last few weeks.  It was so much fun to celebrate our clinical community and have a chance to express our appreciation.  We hope to plan similar events in other cities in the future. 

PRESENT:  

Level I placements still needed!!! 

We are still looking for a large number of placements for our Level 1 students from May 15-June 30.  These students are especially keen and excited to have their first opportunity to actively participate in occupational therapy service.  The general caseload expectation is approximately 25% of caseload with moderate to maximal assist, the focus is on applying academic knowledge, and  the supervision style is focused on 'teaching'. While we obviously want students to have lots of client contact, because there is a lower expectation for independence, it is reasonable to provide students with extra time and structured opportunities to engage in self-directed learning or practice.  Here are some ideas to engage student's while preceptors are completing their own activities:

• perform chart review, practice charting
• prepare notes for brief verbal report (rounds)
• complete an occupational profile on a client (even if you don't know what's involved in that, the student should!)
• spend time exploring relevant cultural competency resources such as spending time with an Elder or Aboriginal Helper,  or simply having discussions with clients about their culture and it's impact on occupational performance. 
• research community resources and partners
• research a diagnosis, lab result or diagnostic test and relate to occupational performance
• review medication list and identify potential influence on occupational performance
• shadow OT in another area, identify similarities and differences
• spend time with support personnel and discuss assignment and delegation principles
• shadow interprofessional team members and identify overlapping and unique scope of practice
• complete a project or deliver a presentation that supports learning objectives (no more than 5% of placement time)
• spend time becoming familiar with equipment, materials, resources (adjust some wheelchairs, play with splinting scraps, sew a sling!)

If you feel you can support a student at this time or want to discuss options please contact Michele Green <mgreen@ualberta.ca> or Cherie Henderson  cherie.henderson@ualberta.ca 

FUTURE: 

Rehab Med Family Fun Day & Calgary Open House

Join us for a FREE family event for people of all ages to learn what physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists and rehabilitation scientists do! PLUS an opportunity for prospective students to tour the Calgary satellite site, learn more about MSc Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy programs, and see our ‘double robot’ in action!

Saturday, April 8, 2017

2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. 

Calgary Downtown Campus 

Floor 3, 906-8 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2P 1H9

Register by March 31 at: registration

Fieldwork Community Appreciation Event

We are pleased to host past, present, and future supporters of our MScOT students to the following Pub Nights:

Saskatoon - March 9th, 4:30-6:30 at Mano's on 8th st E

Edmonton - March 15, 5:00-7:00 at Canadian Brewhouse on 109 street/104 avenue

Drop in anytime for appetizers, soft drinks and prizes.

Please RSVP to cherie.henderson@ualberta.ca

Celebrating Preceptor Excellence

I was so happy to attend the SAOT AGM last week and see some of our excellent preceptors recognized with the SAOT Clinical Preceptor Award.  There were four recipients this year:

Mary Henry from the Royal Alexandra Hospital

Mary Henry with SAOT's Laura Budzak

Gary Rowland and Anthony Goodwin of Halvar Jonson Centre for Brain Injury 

Gary and Anthony with their former students Priyanka Vergis and Taylor Guy

Also recognized was Nicole Bretzer of Shepherd's Care Foundation.

Congratulations to these four and thank you for providing excellent mentorship to our students!

Happy New Year!

We head into Winter Term with quiet halls as our Year Two students are out on their OccTh 526 (Level 2) placements.  The U of A students are represented from coast to coast from Prince George, BC to Saint John, NB.  We are also pleased to be hosting students from Australia, U of M, Western, Queens, Dalhousie and the Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres to Alberta and Saskatchewan!  It is truly a collaborative effort to coordinate national and international placements and it all hinges on our great clinical community, so thank you!

For the U of A MScOT students, Level 2 placements are where they start to transition from "Knowledge Application" to "Reflection in Action".  They can not only make a plan for an assessment or intervention but also start to evaluate how and why things unfolded the way they did.  It can take students a while to wrap their heads around the fact that there may be more than one 'correct' answer and path to supporting our clients in participating in meaningful occupations. Preceptors start to move from 'teaching' to 'coaching' and can encourage students to come up with their own theories, providing input and suggestions they may not have considered.  There are several good preceptor resources on our Clinical Education section of the U of A OT Department website [ click here ].   Stay tuned for information on Preceptor Workshops later this spring!

Finally, it may seem like a long way away but we have begun to plan for spring and summer placements for the following courses:

• OccTh 525 (Level 1 - Year 1):  May 15-June 30, 2017 (7 weeks)
• OccTh 527 (Level 3A - Year 2):  July 4-August 18 (7 weeks).  These dates can be adjusted to accommodate preceptor holidays. 

If you would like to offer or discuss the possibility of having an OT student, please contact a member of our Clinical Education Team [ Contact information  ]

Stay warm, enjoy some winter activities (be that skiing or curling up in front of the fire!), and give us a call if you have anything you would like to discuss! 

Student-Led Clinic showcases unique learning 

opportunities for MScOT students

This month, the Faculty of Rehab Medicine communications department highlighted the work of Jillian Quigley at the Vi Riddell Children's Pain and Rehab Centre at Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary.  This placement allows groups of students to participate in a student lead multi-disciplinary learning environment.  Please click here to see the entire article.  

The Department of Occupational Therapy's Jutta Hinrichs and Cori Schmitz pose with Jillian Quigley (centre) in Banff where Quigley received the ​CAOT Fieldwork Educator Award of Excellence for the Student-Led Program in Calgary. (Photo Credit: Lili Liu)

Thank you to Jillian for her tremendous work with our students!

Students report back on their 

Introductory Fieldwork Placements

After fun and busy Introductory Fieldwork placement October 31-November 4, our first year students were back in class this week and gave brief reports on their experiences to their peers.  Placements ranged across Alberta and Saskatchewan and just about every area of practice (hospital,home care, community, schools, WCB).  The students were thrilled and we loved hearing how excited they were to experience Occupational Therapy in action.  These experiences really gave the students a sense of how clinical reasoning, ethical considerations, client centered practice and interprofessional collaboration look in practice.  Here are a few of the comments that students had:

• My preceptor was like a 'detective'.  I was amazed at how she problem solved and found the right answer for this client.  
• It was really neat to see how the team worked together and the respect the OT was given in terms of discharge recommendations. 
• It was so cool how my preceptor worked with this client - she empathized, collaborated, educated all in the matter of one visit.
• I never thought I would be interested in this area of practice but it was really interesting and I have a totally different perception now.  
• It was true what we were told about practicing in a small town.  I did know several of the clients we talked about.  It made me much more aware of confidentiality. 
•  There were so many ethical considerations.  My preceptor had to negotiate conflict between client and family, different teams, etc.
• It was so cool!  I had no idea OT was involved in that area.
• It was amazing how my preceptor 'heard everything' the client said and acknowledged it. I was so busy looking at the chart, I don't know how she can do it all at once!
• It was a real 'confidence booster' to get to try a few things with clients and figure out I can do this!

Sam and Julia with their preceptor Jonathan Rivero of Qi Creative

Thank you to all of you who supported the students as they put their toes in the "OT waters" for the first time.  It was a great week for everyone and will help them so much as they move forward with their program!