You don’t need to know it all

So this week’s theme is “You don’t need to know it all”.  For those of you who have been pretending for the last 6 weeks of this placement, I’m sorry I didn’t write this sooner!!  Here are the comments from 3 of the nominees for the 2013 Roster of Honor (who collectively have 71 years of experience so in my opinion know a lot):

“[One of] the first things that comes to mind is a willingness to admit that I do not know all the answers and that we will figure it out together”

“It's okay to say you don't have the answer to something that they ask- we OT's can't know everything about everything! I'll say let's check it out together or ask them to look up the information and share it with me.”

“I had not had a student for a few years and was quite uneasy about my ability to be an educator.  Because of this, I made sure I shared this with my student, and when she stopped and asked questions of me, I allowed myself to stop and reflect and research the WHY behind my current clinical reasoning skills.  I was not feeling like an expert clinician despite [many] years of practice but realized that sharing clinical reasoning and methods for problem-solving, I realized that I did have expertise to share.  So I would recommend that a first time educator be OK with not knowing every answer and not being an expert… Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.”

So what is it about this strategy that works?  Here are my thoughts, for what they are worth…

  It creates a safe learning environment for the student. 

Students can be very uncomfortable with not having the right answer.  I still clearly remember my classmate in 1999 saying something like, “sharing your reasoning with your educator is like putting your knowledge on a platter to be judged”. 

Sharing that you don’t know something with someone who is ultimately evaluating you can be very stressful.  Yes, there are basic expectations of what the student should know, but it is unrealistic for them to know everything.  Knowing that their educator is human, makes mistakes, and doesn’t know everything can create a safe place for them to share what they don’t know.  

        You role model your thinking process.

For the students, being able to identify what you don’t know is important in developing their knowledge base and clinical reasoning. When you don’t know what you don’t know how will you know to find out?  This process comes more naturally for some than others, so it is helpful for students to see your thinking in action.     

        You role model life-long learning.

It’s not just the “I don’t know” but that it is followed up with, “what am I going to do about it?”  How do you sort this question out in the real world?   Where do you go for resources?  What’s great here is that this presents an opportunity for mutual learning.  For many clinicians, the students have stronger skills when it comes to finding the research for best practice.  They have something to offer you in this process.

So, if you’ve been pretending to know it all, you have my permission to stop the charade!  

Lisa 

Tips from the 2013 Fieldwork Roster of Honour

I recently sent an email to congratulate the 20 Fieldwork Educators who were nominated by the Class of 2013 to the “Fieldwork Roster of Honour” for their outstanding contribution to their students’ education.  Not wasting a good opportunity to pick the brains of the experience, knowledge, and skill of our occupational therapy community, I asked these OTs to share their tips for educating students.

I thought I would have just one entry with all their tips, but so far 14 educators have given me 7 pages of ideas.  I plan to group these into themes and “bite sized” pieces of advice and suggestions for our blog readers.

About the nominees:

This is an incredibly diverse group (though they are all women).  There is a wide range of experience as educators (a first timer, many seasoned educators, and a few who have not offered a placement in years).  They also represent a range of client ages (pediatrics though older adults) location (hospital, schools, community etc.) and fieldwork models (1:1, 1 educator: 2 students, 2 educators:1 student, on-site supervision, and off-site supervision).   

Lisa 

CAOT Conference 2013- A Spotlight on the Fieldwork Educator Tips Blog

The CAOT conference in Victoria has come and gone. It was a profound experience to network with other O.T.’s across Canada including students and recent grads, and to attend several excellent presentations and extended discussions.

One of the highlights for us was the opportunity to present our poster “A blog as a strategy to support fieldwork educators”. In a nutshell, the poster provided an overview of the blog and the results of an evaluation that was done to capture its usefulness and to guide future direction.  Some of you may have participated in this evaluation by responding to an email request inviting feedback about the blog in 2011.  Others may have completed a survey that was sent out to educators following Basic and Intermediate II 2012/2013.  Thanks to all of you who informed this process.   For those of you who have not had an opportunity to provide feedback, we would love to hear from you!

Overall, we engaged in a lot of positive discussion about the blog with those  who attended the poster presentation. There was a variety of interest from students, university educators, and “soon to be” or current fieldwork educators.

Looking ahead with continuing the blog, we have already integrated some of our “lessons learned”; we are always learningJ.  For those of you who are squinting to read the minuscule print on this poster, and are interested in more details, please give us a shout.

Teresa & Lisa

Ask your student to make predictions

When you, as an experienced therapist, get a referral or review a chart you instantly make predictions about what you anticipate you will see and do.

Despite having only a minimal amount of information, you already have a basic template in your head of what you will likely need to address with the client.  You probably even have what you need packed in your bag (or trunk of your car).  In fact, you likely have a back-up plan (or more!) ready to go. All of these predictions are based on the experiences you’ve had before with similar clients.

Prediction Tip: Part 1

When you ask your student to read a chart or a referral, have him/her create two lists.  One list can be called, “Things I know about the client” and the other list can be called “Things I anticipate”.  When the student is thinking about what is anticipated, he/she might consider:

·         How I expect the client to present based on the diagnosis or referral (I think he will have difficulties concentrating, poor balance, difficulties with swallowing etc).  The student may need to look this up if the diagnosis is not familiar

·         The occupational performance issues that are anticipated (So what occupations do I think this will impact based on what I know about the client?  What occupations should I make sure I ask about?)

·         The environmental conditions that need to be looked at based on what I already know (Is it important to know about stairs? Who else lives in the home?)

·         How the client will progress (Is it likely this condition will improve?  Get worse?  Maintain?)

Prediction Tip: Part 2 (add a reflection!)

After he/she meets the client, encourage him/her to go back to these lists to see what was right and what was off.   Have the student ask him/herself…

·         For things that were off, why was this so? 

·         Were there cues that I missed in the referral/chart? 

·         Would I do anything different next time? 


Have other tips?  Feel free to let us know!

Lisa