Page 1 - Layout 1

McMaster: New clinical curriculum roll-out

ACOTUP/ACPUE is a national organization that promotes and develops occupational therapy education and research with an understanding

of issues in a global context.

1

By Lorie Shimmell, Professional Practice Coordinator and Lori Letts, Assistant Dean, MScOT Program, School of Rehabilitation Science M cMaster OT Faculty

members are putting the final touches on curricular revisions that are occurring as a result of several exciting clinical education changes.

These clinical education changes are the culmination of considerable reflection and plan-ning, of seeking input from our clinical community, our stu-dents, and our Clinical Advisory Group (CAG). Involvement in the Canadian University Field-work Educators (CUFE) group also informed these changes. Beginning with the OT Class of 2014 in September this year, we will be adjusting our 28 weeks of clinical placements (1050 hours) to occur over four placement blocks, rather than the current five blocks. Our first placement (level 1) will be four weeks in length, while the other three placements: one at level 2, and two at level 3, will each be eight weeks in length. Only one placement block will occur at any given time, after the November-December

period is completed this fall. This has been done for both practical and pedagogical rea-sons. Feedback from our OT clinical educators and facility representatives has indicated that the placement demand for two student cohorts simultaneously is great and difficult to sustain. During the summer months placements are particularly diffi-cult to secure due to vacations, coverage, and decreases in pro-gram referrals in some sectors. Our new curriculum ensures that only one class (the final student placement) will be on placement during these summer months. Educationally, we have un-derstood that longer placement blocks lend themselves to more depth and engagement of student learning and integration into a setting. Students may also have more opportunity with the longer time period to engage with other practice areas for increased range of exposure.

We are very excited about these changes and looking forward to launching our new curriculum this fall!