Student education
Student education
Feature not only embraced the learning opportunity , but managed to juggle a busy split clinical placement , demonstrating great learning about neurorehabilitation , and yet producing a fabulous scoping exercise project for Headway North Lanarkshire .
‘ Their inclusion of group members ’ voices and other stakeholders , while integrating this with theory and supporting evidence , were invaluable in creating a set of recommendations that are simple , clear and fit for purpose .
‘ It has reminded us that doing things a little differently in student practice education can be an exciting journey , with inspiring outcomes .’
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open , but a longer-term aim of finding ways to build a stable and sustainable Headway North Lanarkshire .
‘ Over the following months , a melting pot of ideas began to emerge from an RCOT roadshow presentation about an occupational therapy practice placement at a water sports centre , repeated emails from local universities desperate for practical learning opportunities for their students , and an increasing challenge of how to facilitate Headway North Lanarkshire ’ s health and growth .’
She adds : ‘ What initially felt like an overload of challenge started to emerge as an exciting opportunity to facilitate collaboration between the universities and Headway .
‘ The journey to making this happen was a group effort , with the ongoing support of our Murdostoun management , help from our local NHS Education Scotland staff , creative ideas from a new graduate occupational therapy colleague , who understood all the university placement language , and our Headway North Lanarkshire group members , who have eagerly welcomed any new faces that have come along as part of this process .
‘ As the student placement came together , we were absolutely delighted by the hard work that Gulmira and Charlotte put into it . They
Enhancing the learning experience
Gulmira reflects on the experience : ‘ This placement gave me the opportunity to continue developing core occupational therapy skills , particularly honing on goal setting and activity analysis as the most relevant learning goals .
‘ Setting goals collaboratively with a client challenged me to balance providing support to people who struggle to formulate goals themselves , while maintaining self-awareness to refrain from taking the lead role in the process , to make the goals personally meaningful and relevant to the clients .
‘ The leisure domain of occupation , especially exploring activities to occupy time when left on your own , had a greater focus in this practice setting than I experienced before , as it may not be possible to access facilitated group activities in the community at all times .
‘ It was useful to see the importance of the leisure domain and not being neglected in favour of self-care or productivity .’
Conducting the scoping project ‘ demystified the concept of leadership ’, Gulmira adds . ‘ Collaboratively delivering the scoping exercise with Charlotte made me realise that contributing to sustainable service development and its improvement as part of the team attributed to leadership , which is a skill relevant to all staff , at every level , as reflected RCOT ’ s Career Development Framework .’
She says : ‘ Gillian , like many practice educators , had lots to juggle , but her creativity made our placement possible by a mix of two days a week in the clinical setting and also commissioning us to do a scoping exercise , plus letting us facilitate weekly group sessions at Headway North Lanarkshire .
‘ I am especially grateful to Gillian for providing us with diverse experiences to enhance our learning , for having trust in us and giving us a greater autonomy .’
November 2024 OTnews 39