FEATURE STUDENT EDUCATION
Developing and facilitating a virtual placement week for first year occupational therapy students
Vikki Barnes Brown ,
Jessica Forge and Leanne Wells reflect on their experiences of codesigning and facilitating a virtual placement week for 10 first year students unable to attend a one week observational practice placement , in
November 2020
The global health pandemic has created practice placement challenges within health and social care services and higher education institutions ( HEIs ). The ability to meet the World Federation of Occupational Therapists ( WFOT ) minimum standards of 1,000 successful hours of practice placement has been particularly demanding ( WFOT 2016 ).
Lack of availability of community-based placements , redeployment of occupational therapists , social distancing measures and increasing student numbers on healthcare degree programmes have meant that innovative ways to address placement capacity issues and continue to develop essential clinical skills and understanding among students has been required ( WFOT 2020 ).
Developing the virtual placement week The need to respond to the changing placement landscape is ever more relevant now . COVID-19 has created challenges for placement providers to offer and manage a student on placement . An increase in placement cancellations has affected overall placement capacity and highlighted the need for radical change and innovative ways of working .
First , I liaised with practice educators to arrange for them to deliver a presentation of ‘ A day in the life of an occupational therapist ’ in their area of practice . I wanted students attending the virtual placement week to be exposed to a range of specialities across health , social care and private practice .
The next step was the fill the gaps in relation to what the students would be missing by not completing a ‘ traditional ’ week-long observational placement .
40 OTnews December 2021