3. Preparing for Your Learner’s Placement

As part of your preparation for a clinical placement it is recommended that you become familiar with the students’ learning objectives and their home university’s placement requirements; including course content, program philosophy and expectations. This information will be provided to you by the student’s home university.  When reviewing the program’s documentation, ensure that you:

• Review the curriculum completed by the learner prior to placement.
• Review the learning contract provided by the home university.
• Become familiar with the requirements for summative evaluation documents.  This may include learning conference forms, reflective feedback logs, etc..
• Review the midterm and final formal evaluation documents and their associated performance indicators and marking rubrics.
• Become familiar with the policies and procedures regarding the learner’s placement.

When supervising a learner on placement, the supervising clinician remains responsible and accountable for ensuring that the Standards of Practice of the profession are upheld when individuals under their supervision are providing patient care. Preceptors are required to be familiar with the standards for student supervision from their regulatory body.

College of Audiologists and Speech Language Pathologies of Ontario

College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario

College of Physiotherapists of Ontario

Our Health Sciences Preceptor Development Series is offered throughout the year with different monthly topics to help you develop your knowledge and skill as a preceptor to our learners. The topics in this series include:

• Session #1: Identifying & Managing Potential Challenges of Being a Preceptor
• Session #2: Welcoming Your Learner (Placement Preparation & Orientation)
• Session #3: Building an Effective Learner-Preceptor Relationship (Effective Communication)
• Session #4: Integrating the Adult Learner Into Your Clinical Practice
• Session #5: Giving & Receiving Feedback with Your Learner
• Session #6: Strategies for Assessing Your Learner (Formative & Summative)
• Session #7: Fostering Community Engagement and Inter-Professional Learning
• Session #8: Fostering Clinical Reasoning in Learners
• Session #9: Working with a Struggling Learner
• Session #10:  Supporting the Transition from Learner to Entry-Level Clinician

If you are interested in participating in one of our live, virtual sessions with our CLLs and other clinicians practicing in Northern Ontario, please go to our News and Events page on the NOSM website. Recordings of self-directed sessions are also available for you to complete at your own pace.  

In addition to the resources available through the NOSM University Health Sciences Unit, we have included the following external resources to further your knowledge and skills in the area of clinical education.

• Consortium Nationale de Formation en Santé – Formation à la Supervision – These workshops were developed by the University of Ottawa, the Consortium Nationale de Formation en Santé to provide training to French-speaking health professionals to support clinical education in French minority context communities. This series includes 5 workshops which aim to provide supervisors with the basic theoretical and practical notions inherent in the “Art of supervision” in the internship environment. 
• E-Tips for Practice Education – E-Tips is an online course designed by health educators and practitioners affiliated with the University of British Columbia.   The course covers a range of topics presented in eight individual modules, from how to prepare for a student’s arrival to evaluation and beyond.
• McGill Clinical Education: Supervisory Practice Modules – The McGill Clinical Education modules (Supervisory Practice Modules) in English result from a collaboration with the Consortium National de Formation en Santé – l’Université d’Ottawa). The 5 modules include; Basics of Supervision, Building a Climate of Trust, Learning Styles, Advanced Supervisory Practice. 
• Preceptor Education Program – The Preceptor Education Program is an online interprofessional program created by the University of Western Ontario and the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, that consists of nine interactive learning modules.