Why Should You be a Fieldwork Educator (FW Ed)?
Many of you may already be fieldwork educators, and others are considering the idea. There are many reasons to become a fieldwork educator. One argument is that as OTAs, it is our professional responsibility. To become an OTA, we needed to have several fieldwork experiences and people have mentored us. It's a way of giving back to the profession and providing training to the next generation. You may feel very passionate about what you do and you want to be able to pass that along to the next generation of therapy assistants.
Also, students bring a lot of enthusiasm to the field, and they are excited to learn about occupational therapy. They bring a sense of renewed optimism to us as practitioners. In addition, they have fresh perspectives, which can make us stop and think. We get so in tune with our daily routines, sometimes we forget why we joined the occupational therapy field in the first place. Seeing the profession through a student’s eyes can energize and motivate us in new ways.
Additionally, students can bring us access to the latest research. When you're practicing in the field, you may not be affiliated with an educational university. You may not have access to the newest journals, but your students do. You can put them to work, ask them to research topics using the library database. These students are learning new things in their classes, as well. It is definitely an opportunity for you to have professional development. You will learn and grow as a fieldwork educator in many ways – probably in more ways than you realize.
We also tell all of our students that their fieldwork could be considered as the longest job interview of their life. They are being watched and observed by the fieldwork educator and by the facility. It is a job interview, of sorts. As a fieldwork educator, you can be on the lookout for students who you may want to hire once they graduate. We also tell students to be on their best behavior and to realize that everything they do is part of being a professional from day one. Additionally, some states offer continuing education credits for being a fieldwork educator. I would encourage you to check with each of your licensing states and see what kind of CEUs you can earn, simply by being a fieldwork educator.
Top Five Reasons to be a FW Educator
In 2015, Evenson et al. conducted a nationwide survey of OT and OTA fieldwork educators across the United States. As a result of their research, they determined the top five reasons to become a fieldwork educator. According to their interviews, being a fieldwork educator provides:
- An opportunity to update practice, keep current, and apply new ideas, research, or theories
- Personal satisfaction: As practitioners, we receive personal satisfaction to be able to help others. Helping a student is different than helping a client, but it also can give you that personal satisfaction.
- An opportunity to give back to their university (their alma mater) or to the profession in general
- An opportunity to develop and hone clinical reasoning skills
- An opportunity to develop supervision skills: As OTAs, we may or may not be supervising other rehab techs, or have other opportunities to supervise. Some of you may be rehab directors and you have that supervisory opportunity as part of your job. To start gaining those skills and learning those skills, try taking a Level one fieldwork student.
Concerns from the Field
We can't talk about the benefits without also thinking about the concerns from the field. In a study by Hanson in 2011, the following reasons were cited as barriers for the fieldwork educators. First, they believed that they didn’t possess enough training to be an effective fieldwork educator. However, for those of you who hold that view, your attendance at this seminar is a step in the right direction toward obtaining more training. Another concern expressed by OT professionals in taking on students was time constraints. With productivity challenges, combined with trying to best serve our clients, we may feel like we don't have a lot of time to take on a student. That's certainly a valid concern, but hopefully one that can be addressed.
Participants in the study also indicated that they were concerned with students lacking basic communication skills, or possibly advanced communication skills. Additionally, they expressed concern that students lack problem solving and clinical skills. Those are skills that universities have a responsibility to teach, and students have a responsibility to learn, in order to be prepared for fieldwork.
What the FW Site Needs
In order to provide a successful fieldwork environment, the fieldwork sites need support from the colleges and universities (a.k.a., the “programs”). They need training for the fieldwork educators. They need to be informed about what the program expects. If you're taking students from multiple programs within a specific geographical location, it may become confusing to sort out and keep straight the expectations and requirements for each school. Additionally, the fieldwork site needs ongoing communication with the academic fieldwork coordinator who is the main contact at the school.
Addressing Concerns
Research does help to identify concerns. In occupational therapy, we emphasize evidence-based practice; that goes for education, as well. There are many research studies addressing what is happening in fieldwork, and what the future holds for fieldwork. Fortunately, we have that research to guide us in our practice. We need to understand that in order to successfully resolve issues, it requires an ongoing collaborative effort between the programs, students and FW educators.
Tools and Tips for Fieldwork Educators
One of the key elements of doing anything well is organization. Sometimes a program will give you a binder with information. Sometimes they will direct you to a website where you can download information. Whatever the case may be for each particular school, make sure you stay organized and everything together, so that it doesn’t get confused with information from other schools. I would also encourage you to jot down what works well. Keep a log for yourself in your fieldwork notebook those things that work well each student. Then, if you run into another situation, you can recall what worked the last time. Of course, every situation is unique, but there are times when we can benefit from our past experiences. Stay organized with the required forms that each school needs to be completed. Keep everything up to date on your calendar, or whatever method works best for you. Your primary duty, as a fieldwork educator, is to your student; your duty as an employee is to your patient. You are taking on another role when you become a fieldwork educator. It is challenging, and I applaud you for that. Students do bring a unique set of challenges, but also some great excitement.
In addition to being organized, it is important to be aware of learning styles: your student’s and your own. You may have participated in learning style inventories throughout your education. If not, it might be time to take an assessment to find out your primary learning style. We will review some learning style assessments and different learning styles coming up in a bit.
Communication is always key with the student, the college, and also your colleagues. Your colleagues can be a good source of support to help know what to do in a situation. You can compare learning strategies about what works for helping students, and how to stay organized and get things done in a timely manner. To communicate effectively, it is important to be aware of your own communication style, as well as those of your colleagues and students. As such, we will review some different communications styles and assessments during this seminar. Finally, we will learn about some objective grading strategies and ways that we can avoid bias in our evaluations.
Level I and Level II Students
There are two levels of fieldwork. Since this seminar is geared toward OTAs, we have to stop and think: who can we supervise? What are the regulations at the federal and state levels, which tell us who we can supervise, and what is expected at each level?
The Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) is the national accrediting body for all occupational therapy education at every level. They dictate and set educational standards for each degree. For example, with the Occupational Therapy Assistant Degree, there are 175 standards that programs have to meet. Each program must teach and prove that they're teaching to those standards, including everything that's required in the standards. Sometimes, there's a bit of a mismatch between a fieldwork site and the standards. A fieldwork site might indicate a preference for their OTA student to come in knowing how to do E-stim; however, E-stim is not included in the ACOTE Standards at the Associate Degree level as a required skill. They're expected to know what it is, but they're not expected to be competent in that skill. Sometimes, there is a misunderstanding about what is expected of the OTA. Here is a link to the ACOTE standards. It is a 45-page document outlining the standards and what guides programs and education. It's a good reference for you to have as a fieldwork educator to know what is expected of the institutions. The standards are broken up in sections A, B, and C. Section C is the fieldwork section. We'll be referencing some of the fieldwork standards a little bit later on, so you can better understand what they are. If you lose that link, the standards are readily available on the AOTA website.
Associates Degree in OTA Supervision Requirements
The ACOTE supervision requirements for people with an Associate’s Degree in OTA are as follows:
C.1.14 “Ensure that the student is supervised by a currently licensed or otherwise regulated occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant (under the supervision of an occupational therapist) who has a minimum of 1 year full-time (or its equivalent) of practice experience subsequent to initial certification and who is adequately prepared to serve as a fieldwork educator. The supervising therapist may be engaged by the fieldwork site or by the educational program.” (ACOTE, 2011, p. 36)
To rephrase, as an OTA, you can provide supervision for Level I and Level II fieldwork students, but you also have to continue to be supervised by an OT. Additionally, you need to have at least one year full-time experience, or its equivalent.
Master’s Degree in OT Supervision Requirements
The ACOTE supervision standards for individuals who hold a Master's Degree in OT are:
C.1.14 “Ensure that the student is supervised by a currently licensed or otherwise regulated occupational therapist who has a minimum of 1 year full-time (or its equivalent) of practice experience subsequent to initial certification and who is adequately prepared to serve as a fieldwork educator. The supervising therapist may be engaged by the fieldwork site or by the educational program.” (ACOTE, 2011, p. 36)
According to the current ACOTE Standards, the OTA cannot supervise an OT student. However, you also have to look at your state regulations, as they may state something different. For example, in North Carolina, our Practice Act used to state that an OTA could supervise a Level I OT student. Unfortunately, the federal standards through ACOTE have changed and we are no longer able to do that. But as an OTA, we can supervise any level of OT student.
Level I FW
Level I fieldwork opportunities provide an introductory level of clinical training opportunities. Students are meant to be able to apply some of their knowledge to practice and develop their understanding of the needs of clients. Sometimes, the perception is that a fieldwork Level I student can't touch a patient. That is not true. You, as a fieldwork educator, can gauge your student's ability and where they are in their program. If it's their very first semester, they're probably not going to be ready to do a transfer board transfer from tub to toilet, or tub to wheelchair; but they might be able to set up an activity for a client. You have to determine where they are in their educational process, and that goes back to good communication with the program. They definitely can work with clients more than just as observers; they need that hands-on experience.
Level II FW
Level II fieldwork opportunities are more intense. Students are in the field, in a full-time clinical experience where they are preparing for entry level practice. Occupational therapy assistant students have to ramp up from day one to week eight in order to become competent entry level practitioners. That doesn't mean that they arrive on day one knowing everything. They are not an extra set of hands to get in more treatment time; they are still students who need that opportunity to learn. We do, however, have the ability to hold Level II fieldwork students to a higher standard where they are going to be learning and growing throughout that Level II experience.
Level I vs. Level II
With regard to the ACOTE standards, Level I requirements vary greatly among programs and type of degree. A Level I student does not have to be supervised by an occupational therapy practitioner. They could be supervised by a physical therapist, a speech therapist, or a social worker. This is because Level I students complete their fieldwork in a lot of non-traditional sites, and they don't have the same mandates that Level II does.
At Level II, the OT curriculum is 24 weeks, usually broken up into two 12-week sessions. For the OTA, they need to complete 16 weeks, typically over two different settings. Most programs do two eight-week back-to-back sessions for OTA fieldwork II.
