FEATURE STUDENT EDUCATION
An alternative placement approach
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Aislinn McLean has been completing an academic professional placement within a university as part of a research team – a first for the university to offer this style of placement to students. Here she reflects on how it has allowed her to experience an alternative placement approach in response to the current crisis
When the stay at home order was announced in March, I was preparing to begin my final placement as an occupational therapy student.
I must confess, I viewed joining the workforce at the time with some trepidation, like many other student practitioners, but the sense of obligation to use the skills I had developed in support of the NHS was paramount.
However, with services being reduced and occupational therapists being redeployed to meet the needs of the NHS, I was informed that the department I was due to join was no longer able to facilitate my placement, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to find a clinical placement provider.
Therefore, when the opportunity of an academic placement was proposed, to join one of the research teams based in the university, I was both relieved and intrigued.
At first, I was unsure of how an academic research placement would look in comparison with a clinical placement; what exactly would I be doing as a student with limited experience in research and its processes?
I had completed a research proposal assignment beforehand as a final year student, which I found engaging and rewarding, but I had limited idea of how to actually carry it out as a legitimate project.
Furthermore, up until this point, I was well versed with the processes regarding assessment during placement. Every week I would have set objectives that support development of the clinical skills and knowledge needed to work in that setting,
52 OTnews June 2020