Fieldwork Educators Expectations of Level II Occupational Therapy Students’ Professional and Technical Skills

Article

Fieldwork Educators Expectations of Level II Occupational Therapy Students’ Professional and Technical Skills

Authors

Jessica Mason, OTD, OTR/L; Cynthia L. Hayden, DHEd., OTR/L, CHT; Renee Causey-Upton, PhD., OTD, OTR/L

Journal

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Article Link

This is an open access article. Full article can be found here: Fieldwork Educators Expectations of Level II Occupational Therapy Students’ Professional and Technical Skills

Purpose

Explore Level II fieldwork educators’ perceptions of occupational therapy students’ professional and technical skills at the beginning of Level II fieldwork.

Research Objectives

• Determine if fieldwork educators perceive students as being adequately prepared for Level II fieldwork experiences.
• Identify the technical and professional skills fieldwork educators expect of occupational therapy students at the beginning of Level II fieldwork experiences.
• Identify technical and professional skills that fieldwork educators indicate students might be lacking at the beginning of Level II fieldwork experiences.

Results:

Figure 1.

Professional and Technical Skills Needed for Fieldwork Success and Professional and Technical Skills Lacking at the Beginning of Fieldwork

Figure 2.

Specific Clinical Skills Clinicians Believe are Needed to be Successful in a Clinical Setting

Takeaways for Clinicians

The results of this study indicates that the professional and technical skills that clinicians believe are needed at the start of fieldwork are lacking, indicating a performance gap for many students at the start of fieldwork. Understanding this performance gap provides fieldwork supervisors with an opportunity to identify disparities in student performance early in a placement to develop a timely plan to support students throughout their fieldwork.

Reviewing the list of professional and technical skills that are lacking at the start of fieldwork, is a good starting point for fieldwork coordinators and supervisors to:

• Communicate to the academic fieldwork coordinator the skills required of fieldwork students when assigning a student to the clinical site.
• Develop methods of communicating to students the site expectations in the areas listed.
• Assemble a list of resources for students to review prior to and during fieldwork to develop the professional and technical skills expected at the site.
• Assess student performance in the areas listed during the early weeks of fieldwork to determine what level of support needs to be provided to a student.
• Implement scheduled meetings to provide a concrete list of areas that needs to be addressed. This template can be used and modified as needed. [add template]
• Determine when to collaborate with the academic fieldwork coordinator if skill development is not progressing adequately.
  • The following questions can be asked as appropriate:
    • What instructional methods worked best for this student? Where they a hands-on learner, auditory learner?
    • What strategies can be used to increase the student’s level of comfort with providing occupational therapy services? A student may want to practice with the supervisor to increase self-confidence with performance prior to working with a client.
    • What approach can be used to clearly communicate expectations of this placement? Weekly meetings? Daily huddles?
• What resources have been used in the classroom to teach evaluation and intervention concepts, including textbooks and evidence-based research.

Online Resources to Develop Professional and Technical Skills of Fieldwork Students:

AOTA Fieldwork Educator Resources

WNY FW Consortium Supervision 101

Citation: Mason, J., Hayden, C. L., & Causey-Upton, R. (2020). Fieldwork Educators’ Expectations of Level II Occupational Therapy Students’ Professional and Technical Skills. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 8(3), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.15453/2168-6408.1649