Practice Placement 2 OT | OCCT2030 | University of Southampton

Module overview

This module provides an opportunity to experience current practice in a variety of locations across Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and surrounding counties. Principle providers of placement will be in health or social care settings. You will be supervised by an experienced HCPC registered therapist who will be your main placement educator and main point of contact for the entire placement. However, you will likely work within a wider team as a routine part of the experience. You and the placement educator will be allocated a Locality Contact (a member of the academic staff in the School's OT team) who will provide a link to the academic programme and will meet you at least once during the placement. You will be supernumerary to the staff in the area in which you are placed.

This particular placement has a focus on you making an active contribution to the assessment and treatment of service users in a specific area of practice. You will take an active part under close supervision of the placement educator who will prompt you to take responsibility for a selected caseload.

Integration of Service Users

The experience of working closely with service users of all ages, cultural backgrounds and across clinical specialities is an essential ingredient to the learning and assessment of competency within the occupational therapy programme. This placement links to work carried out in other level 5 modules where specific service user groups needs and/or treatment is investigated at a foundation level. You need to be aware of service users' lived experiences derived from narratives, research and evaluation of practice. This will improve your knowledge base and also underpin any self-development activities linked to practice placement. This combination of theoretical evidence and practice-based work will ensure that the needs of service users are dealt with in a proactive and positive manner in all your scholarly and practical activities.

Multi-Professional Learning

The partnership between academic and practice environments is an essential ingredient in the development, delivery and evaluation of the Occupational Therapy programme. During other level 5 modules you will have opportunities to work alongside and learn together in groups of students from different professional backgrounds. This will be replicated in practice placement experiences where different professions frequently work together within practice teams. It is envisaged that these experiences will have an impact on how, and what you explore and in particular will be a feature of aspects of your personal and professional development activities (see learning outcomes).

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

Modify communication styles to develop effective working relationships with patients/clients and other professionals taking account of ethical considerations and respecting their rights, dignity, and confidentiality.
Manage a caseload as appropriate, prioritising your workload and managing your time effectively.
Produce a comprehensive case study/project arising from practice that evidences the application of theoretical and practical skills learnt throughout your academic programme, the current placement and previous placement. Evaluate the effectiveness of the project or of the assessment, intervention and management (for a case study).
Create effective working relationships with members of the multidisciplinary team, providing appropriate professional feedback.
Select and apply appropriate occupation focussed interventions, taking into account health and safety issues and modifying interventions in response to evaluation of the outcomes achieved.
Reflect on and critically evaluate recent professional activity, discussing the impact of critical events on personal and professional practice and development.
With prompting from your practice educator(s) assess patients/clients, involving them in the analysis of the information and Identifying problems and strengths, in order to plan appropriate occupation focussed interventions, taking account of individual patient/client needs.
Construct management plans for patient/client interventions and manage resources in the light of departmental expectations, constraints and available supporting services.

Syllabus

The integration of knowledge, skills and attitudes specific to the speciality area of the placement reflect the five sections of practice: safe conduct, professionalism, interpersonal skills, clinical/therapeutic skills and management skills as defined in the occupational therapy practice placement assessment criteria.

Introduction to the Continuous Professional Development process: including developing learning outcomes/objectives, reflecting on a learning experience and producing a practice case study/project relevant to the placement area.

You will receive prompting from a placement educator and take an active role in, and where appropriate be responsible for a caseload under their supervision. You will have opportunity to work with and learn from other health professionals and appropriate staff within the placement setting as well as the named placement educator, to facilitate understanding of the multidisciplinary and complex nature of health and social care provision.

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

Your learning will be facilitated by a placement educator(s) who will use a variety of methods, including:

demonstration by a recognised placement educator in the placement facility
supervised service user contact using mentorship
staff and learner led presentations
case study/presentations
ward rounds/case conferences/community visits
attendance at clinics and opportunities to observe specialist treatments such as surgical interventions where appropriate
departmental in-service programmes
peer support in the university and practice-based setting
support from placement educators and visiting academics (locality contacts)
eLearning resources: blackboard site
learning resources in practice area
practice placement handbook

Study time
Type	Hours
Placement	240
Total study time	240

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Curtin M, Egan M and Adams J (2017). Occupational Therapy for People Experiencing Illness, Injury or Impairment: Promoting occupation and participation. London: Elsevier.

Higgs J & Jones M (2008). Clinical Reasoning in Health Professionals. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann.

McLeod J (2013). Introduction to Counselling. Philadelphia: Open University Press.

Royal College of Occupational Therapists (2021). Professional Standards for Occupational Therapy Practice, Conduct and Ethics. London: Royal College of Occupational Therapists.

Assessment

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Evaluation

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Evaluation	100%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Evaluation	100%