The "Postcards" have arrived!

Back in June, we let you know we were requesting submissions from our students about their placements.  We got some great pictures that really highlight what a dynamic, creative and FUN clinical community we have in both Saskatchewan and Alberta.  Here's a what they looked like when we pulled them together. 

We had postcards from Canora, Rosetown, Cochrane, Edmonton, Bonnyville, Outlook, and Calgary!  Here's one of my favorite stories:

"This is a picture of [A], the boy I worked with this summer, and his friend. Kids at A's school don't like to play with A. because he has autism. The parents of these kids don't let their kids come to A's birthday parties. There is a stigma attached to having the label of autism but this little girl doesn't think A is different at all. She genuinely likes to be around A and plays with him like she plays with any other kid. She's patient with him and makes sure he feels included. She treats him like a typical kid while everyone else treats him differently. The world would be a better place for those with disabilities if people were all like A's friend."      Andrea

This little girls sounds like a future Occupational Therapist to me!!  Thanks to all the students who submitted!

WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING THIS FALL? 

• Year One students are into their first week of classes and have already filled out their selections for their Introductory Placements from October 31-November 4.  Thanks to all our great sites and preceptors for offering to give this group their first fieldwork experience - they're pretty excited!  A reminder, students are allowed to return to their Introductory site in future placements (they only time they can repeat sites).
• Year Two students are back from summer break and buzzing about their OCCTH 525 placements in May/June (and hopefully enjoying their classmates postcards!).  They will head out in January again for OCCTH 526.
• The first "Year Three" students in the new curriculum are excited as they are completing their final placement!  Remember that feeling of no longer being the "Student", not knowing what to do with your time now there were no assignments and due dates, and the excitement and trepidation of embarking on your new career?  Many of them will be preparing to write the CAOT exam on November 19th.  
• Finally, something for YOU!  There are U of A Alumni-Student Pub Night events booked

• In Edmonton:

  Friday, September 23, 6-9 pm

  Hudson's on Whyte

  10307 82 Ave NW Edmonton

  
  

  In Calgary:

  Friday, November 4, 6-9 pm

  Last Best Brewing & Distilling

  607 11 Ave SW, Calgary 

  
  

  Appetizer buffet starts at 6 pm

  FREE drink ticket for a domestic bottle beer or hi-ball

  Please click on the link above for information and to register! 

As always, feel free to contact any member of the fieldwork team if you have any comments, questions or cudo's regarding MScOT student placements!

Welcome to our new MScOT students!

Congratulations to our newest group of MScOT students who start orientation today at Corbett Hall. One hundred and twenty strong (96 in Edmonton and 24 in Calgary), over the course of the next 26 months this bright, eager and enthusiastic group will engage in approximately 30 courses for  80 credits and hopefully have some fun along the way!  These courses include four full fieldwork courses of seven weeks:

• OCCTH 525 in May/June of year one
• OCCTH 526 in January/February of year two
• OCCTH 527 in July/ August of year two
• OCCTH 528 in September/October of year three

To kick it all off, the students will participate in a one week Introductory Placement (OCCTH 503) from October 31-November 4.  This is a great opportunity for the students to become familiar with some of the roles and diversity of Occupational Therapy in real world practice.  We are still looking for a few more placements so please let us know if you have space for a student! our contact info

Hopefully, some of you will have the chance to meet these great 'future OTs' over the course of their program and join me in wishing them luck!

MScOT Student participates in unique Summer Studentship in Cancer Care

Congratulations to MScOT student Sheena Moodie on her recent completion of the Satore Multi-disciplinary Summer Studentship Progam at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton!  Sheena is one of two health professional students to participate this year and only the second Occupational Therapy student ever.  Good work, Sheena and thank  you for representing OT so well. 

For more information on Sheena's experience, click here for the full story!  

Acting ACCE for Fieldwork Program for August 2016- July 2017

Cherie Henderson will be the Acting Academic Coordinator of Clinical Education (ACCE) for the UofA MScOT Program from August 2016 - July 2017 while Cori Schmitz is on sabbatical.

We would like to welcome Cherie to the ACCE role! We are very excited for her to join our MScOT Fieldwork Team. Cherie already has a wealth of knowledge and experience with student fieldwork and clinical education from her recent years as the OT Professional Practice Leader at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton.

As ever, we encourage our OT clinical community to reach out to Cherie, or any of our team members, if they interested in being involved in student placement supervision or are needing support while working with one of our MScOT students:

cherie.henderson@ualberta.ca

In June, Cherie participated in our team's fieldwork retreat and started orienting to her new position. The retreat was generously hosted by Michele Derdall, our Saskatchewan Clinical Education Coordinator, at 'The Camp' near Outlook, Saskatchewan.

MScOT Student Plays for Canada in 2017 Rugby World Cup

One of our second year OT students, Amanda Williams, is competing for Canada at the 2017 Rugby World Cup in Ireland this summer!

Click here for the full story.

Fieldwork Performance Expectations for Level 3 Placements

Our students have now started their OCCTH 527 (Level 3a) placement and will be completing their OCCTH 528 placement (Level 3b) in Sept-Oct.  They are now into the final stages of applying their practical knowledge before graduating and becoming our colleagues!

At this stage the students are working to CONSOLIDATE their knowledge, accurately analyze and appropriately alter their behaviour, solve problems more independently and function in the fieldwork environment with minimal or only consultative supervision.

The preceptor's role during this stage is often one of MENTOR, using a consultative style of supervision. Here are some specific roles preceptors may focus on during Level 3 placements:

• allowing the student to work as independently as possible
• encouraging self-direction and demonstration of initiative
• working 'collegially' with the student
• providing unique experiences
• articulating professional reasoning and sharing client stories
• relinquishing control (if it's safe!)

However, before jumping in to mentoring or expecting independent work, it has to be understood that students have likely had a broad variety of fieldwork experiences (i.e., school based, home care, adult acute care, etc) and with a diverse population (i.e., pediatrics, adults, seniors).

Thus, each placement still goes through earlier stages of the preceptor being an EDUCATOR as the student gains direct knowledge application in the new setting (as in Level 1 placements) and assisting the student to transition to more independence with the preceptor acting as COLLABORATOR or COACH (as in Level 2 placements). Depending on the setting, it is expected that Level 3 students can move through these first two stages reasonably quickly and then become more independent.  

For Level 3a, in a typical practice setting, the expectation is that the student will be able to manage 50-75% of a typical caseload for a new-grad therapist and for Level 3b, increase that to managing 75% or more of a new-grad caseload. 

As always, thank you for your time and efforts to supervise the students.  We hope that everyone enjoys the experience and looks forward to these students becoming our colleagues in the near future!

Update re: OCCTH 528 (Sept-Oct) Placement Recruitment

We were surprised and very pleased with the large number and variety of offers that were made available to our MScOT students for their Level 3b placement in Sept-Oct 2016!

All the students were able to choose placements that best suited their interests and will maximize the diversity of their fieldwork portfolios (including the program requirements of mental health, community and rural practice).

If we did not end up using your OCCTH 528 placement offer, then we will be notifying you shortly.

Since we have just now completed the first full-year with our new curriculum schedule, we are in the process of analyzing and responding to the patterns we have seen in terms of placement recruitment for each of the sessions.

We encourage you to be in touch with further questions or concerns, or to strategize about the best time of year for you or your site to offer a placement(s):

Calgary/Southern AB (Jutta Hinrichs) click here to contact via email.

Saskatchewan (Michele Derdall) click here to contact via email.

Edmonton/Northern AB (Cori Schmitz) click here to contact via email.

On behalf of the UofA OT Department and the entire fieldwork team, THANK YOU for your ongoing support of clinical education. We could not run our MScOT Fieldwork Program without you!