07-10-06
Why Take Fieldwork Students?
Donna M. Costa
Fieldwork is the link between education and practice; it is the primary vehicle through which students are provided with an in-depth opportunity to apply the theories and knowledge they have learned in school. Providing fieldwork education to students is a professional responsibility—a way we ensure that there will be a future generation of occupational therapy practitioners. Although there are thousands of occupational therapy practitioners in practice who have and continue to accept fieldwork students, there are thousands of others who have not. Let's look at some of the reasons why practitioners are reluctant to accept fieldwork students and then suggest some strategies to increase the number of competent fieldwork educators.
"I don't have the time; my facility places heavy emphasis on productivity, and taking students will take away time from seeing clients." When students start out, they need to see occupational therapy practitioners "in action." You can instruct the students while you're treating and in between clients. Soon, the student will be able to start taking over some of your client responsibilities under supervision, and then it will actually free up your time to do other things.
"I'd like to take students, but how can I supervise when I don't know how?" This is a very common dilemma. There are a number of great books that have been recently published on the theory and practice of clinical supervision, as well as articles in professional journals. Perhaps a colleague who has taken students is willing to mentor you. Educational programs often sponsor continuing education opportunities for their fieldwork educators. Contact the academic fieldwork coordinator at a college or university near you and let them know that you'd like to get more involved.
"I once had to fail a student, and it was a horrible experience; I never want to go through that again." Yes, failing a student is difficult, and no one likes to do this. However, fieldwork educators are, in essence, gatekeepers of the profession. They have an ethical obligation to protect the consumer and uphold the high quality of our profession. Sometimes marginal students need different learning strategies. The academic fieldwork coordinator can help you develop learning activities and contacts that will provide the student with additional opportunities to develop entry-level competencies.
"What's in it for me? I'm going to spend all this extra time, and what do I get in return?" Occupational therapy practitioners accept fieldwork students out of a sense of professional responsibility and a commitment to educating future professionals. Taking on students is an invigorating way to continue your own learning; students are invariably bright, energetic, highly motivated, and enthusiastic. They come with questions and want to learn so much. I find that their energy and enthusiasm is contagious for the rest of the members on the team; their questions frequently stimulate me to search for an answer or learn about something new. Students arrive at fieldwork looking very unsure of themselves, sometimes immature, but you watch them grow over the course of their fieldwork assignment, and then you reap all the benefits of having taught someone, molded someone, and helped create a budding professional with entry-level competency skills.
"What if the student knows more than I do? These students have more education than I have." Just as we learn from our clients, we also learn from our students. You don't have to have all the answers. You can learn together. You can point the student in the right direction of where to find information. Sometimes the questions students ask are even more important than the answers. Remember, we're trying to develop their clinical reasoning skills.
"Our facility is short staffed; a therapist has just given her notice because she is leaving to have a baby. I don't have enough therapists left to take on students." This is probably the most frequent reason why fieldwork sites cancel a scheduled placement. The most frequently used model, one therapist to one student, is not the only way to provide fieldwork education. In my experience, I find that students learn best from a collaborative learning model, where more than one student is assigned to a fieldwork educator. This model places a bit more responsibility on the students to problem-solve collectively, come up with treatment strategies, and provide each other with feedback.
The future of occupational therapy depends on what we do now to educate tomorrow's practitioners. It depends on each one of us to say "Yes!" to fieldwork.
Donna M. Costa, MS, OTR/L, is the interim program director at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York, and the academic fieldwork coordinator representative on AOTA's Commission on Education.
Reference Information:
Costa, D. M. (2006). Why take fieldwork students? [Electronic Version]. OT Practice, 11(12), 6.
©Copyright 2007. The American Occupational Therapy Association. All rights reserved.
