The COVID-19 pandemic presented a tremendous challenge to clinical fieldwork. The 麻豆AV Occupational Therapy (OT)听fieldwork coordinators needed to think outside of the box to figure out how to get occupational therapy student learners through the professional master鈥檚 program in a timely sequence听for a healthcare system in need.听
Group fieldwork models promote teamwork, self-directedness and communication as students learn from each other, and with each other. These models are听representative of their future work environments.听In recent years, the 麻豆AV OT fieldwork faculty had听tried to implement group learning models, sometimes called collaborative models, within the Quebec occupational therapy clinical teaching community with limited partner adoption.
Fortunately, this well-established group model approach, was initiated, embraced and customized with great interest by two major teaching partners during this challenging time:
- The Centre Int茅gr茅 Universitaire de Sant茅 et de Services Sociaux (CIUSSS) de l'Ouest-de-l'脦le-de-Montr茅al with three long-term care installations: St. Anne鈥檚 Hospital, Centre d鈥橦茅bergement de Soins de Longue Dur茅e (CHSLD) Lasalle, and CHSLD Grace Dart. These all had a focus on reconditioning/retraining residents in autonomy after prolonged isolation.
- The Montreal Children鈥檚 Hospital within the Montreal University Health Centre (MUHC) with a double innovative focus on both virtual care and wait-listed clients with Development Coordination Disorders (DCD).
Along with previous model implementations, these experiences reinforce听our belief that group models can create more confident and reflective entry-level clinicians with superior teamwork skills who will lead our future workforce. We hope that the recent success of these group fieldwork models will lead to a wave of interest resulting in more group fieldwork model trial by other teaching partners.
Read more about these group fieldwork models, in the official published article available online at the听or in its final version here.听
Top photo:听Four 麻豆AV student occupational therapists with their off-site occupational therapy听supervisor Jacqueline Nguyen, Ste Anne's Hospital, Quebec.
About the authors:
Karen Falcicchio, erg., Faculty lecturer, Associate Academic coordinator of Clinical Education and Caroline Storr, MBA, erg, Associate Professor (Professional), Academic Coordinator of Clinical Education in Occupational Therapy at 麻豆AV engage together in planning, teaching, managing, coordinating, and reviewing all related components of the student learning experience in the clinical courses. They also work on managing relationships with the clinical teaching community in order to prepare each occupational therapy graduate for professional licensure.
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