Fundamentals of Clinical Instruction

One of the great things about the place I work is the fact that we have a vast amount of opportunities to attend inservices and continuing education classes.  A class I recently attended that was put together by therapists at the hospitals was regarding clinical instruction, and how to be a fieldwork educator.

The class was broken up into two parts.  The first part was just with the occupational therapists, and laws and regulations related specifically to occupational therapy were discussed.  The second part went over how students learn, various learning methods, and how to handle the problem and exceptional student.

Hearing about ways of handling the problem student was especially interesting, as we got to hear stories about various students who did all sorts of things that I could never imagine doing myself as a student.  But we also got to hear about some creative ways of working with students who have a hard time with certain skill sets.

For example, if the clinical instructor (CI) sees that the student has a hard time managing the patient and the IV pole at the same time, the CI should attach a blood pressure cuff to his arm, and use the vitals machine as the IV pole.  A clean chest tube drain can be used a Foley catheter.

Overall, it was a great class, and it was nice to see that my hospital takes teaching students so seriously.  At any given time, there are always at least two students somewhere in the hospital, whether it is a phsyical therapy student, occupational therapy student, or a speech-language pathology student.  While I did already have a Level I student, I hope to soon be able to take a Level II student and use some of the principles I learned in this class.