1. Growing capacity for educating students on practice placement
Maureen Shiells
Pre-registration Education Manager
Royal College of Occupational Therapists
London
#RCOT2018
@MMShiells

2. The evidence for practice placement education
‘Students value learning from participation in clinical contexts and there is wide recognition that professional skills are crystallised through integration of theory and practice within a workplace. Further, there is a strong link between positive practice placement experiences and the area of practice that graduates choose to pursue on graduation’.
Thew (2018)

3. Aims of this session Highlight the current situation
Explore the recent work carried out by RCOT
Look at the feedback from the participants
Consider with you, how you can become involved
There has been a growing acknowledgement about the issues which are facing practice education for occupational therapists and other allied health professions within this rapidly changing and fluid landscape within education, health and social care services across the whole of the UK. In Dec 2016, RCOT hosted a practice placement summit to explore the issues facing the OT practice education situation. The challenges were identified via a multiple pronged approach and distilled into an action plan which would involve four separate pieces of work going forward.
We distilled this action plan from the data that was gathered from the investigation, and these four themes emerged. We then went out to our community of practice and divided the four themes amongst them. They went to colleagues and requested some feedback in terms of thoughts, actions, case stories in relation to the themes. What was already being done, what could be improved, why and by whom

4. Progress
This type of work requires multiple stakeholder engagement; HEIs, students, practice educators, employers, service leads, etc, etc…
If/when they come together for the good of the future service/profession, that’s where the magic starts..

5. An investigation into occupational therapy practice education
Practice placement summit, (R)COT Dec 2016
The action plan

6. 1. Develop further resources to support practice education
Multiple mentoring; make use of ‘students as peers’; promotes deeper clinical reasoning and offer enriched experience
Consider setting up inter-professional student groups on practice placements; helps individuals develop within a multiple disciplinary team and defend their own profession
Offer ‘project placements’ in pairs; students can focus on small research projects (or elements thereof) together
Engage people who are not skilful at educating in supporting those who are ; share workloads or prepare materials for students
We discovered that remarkably little appears to have changed to the modes in which we deliver practice education in our traditional settings. Despite the seismic change in the education, health and social care landscape outside, most HEIs and practitioners who deliver practice education follow the same old method of ‘taking a student’ on a 1:1 basis.

7. A myth?
No area too *specialist* for practice education to take place

8. 2. Develop and promote more diverse practice settings for students
Seek/offer a placement in a diverse setting
Ensure that students receive a varied mix of placement opportunities, increase the pool of opportunity
Offer long-arm supervision; enhance skills and contribute to practice education for people in contemporary or role emerging placements

9. 3. Engage final year students in preparing to deliver practice education in the future
Begin to introduce practice education in final year of curriculum
Stagger different level of students in same placement location; encourage more experienced to provide support to newer students
Adopt the ‘leaders at all levels’ attitude; encourage students to develop confidence in their abilities to share learning (within reason)

10. 4. Build further communities of practice across all locations where occupational therapists work
Simplify the processes; IT, mandatory training, complex HEI paperwork
Make reasonable adjustments routinely; develop strong networks with your HEI and work together to banish stigma and support all students
Lobby and influence managers, leaders and service providers to ensure they are aware of the consequences of not providing practice placement opportunities

11. Nobody said it would be easy

12. Final key thoughts
Influence upwards to ensure that our professions remain an integral part of health and social care provision
Recognise and fully embrace the culture of change that we live in
Challenge complacency

13. Thank you 