Occupational Therapy Fieldwork

Every occupational therapist remembers their student fieldwork experiences. Many of our fondest memories of being an occupational therapy student are derived from our fieldwork experiences. They are the days that coalesced the theory from lectures and lab into reality. The formative fieldwork experiences are critical to the path from student to practitioner or clinician.

Fieldwork provides occupational therapy (OT) students with the opportunity to integrate theory into practise. It allows students to experience the realities of:

• occupation as a therapeutic medium for enhancing participation in self-care, leisure and productivity roles;
• client-centred programs;
• the multitude of assessments and intervention tools;
• the PEOP model, the model of Human Occupation and the ICF (the School of Occupational Therapy & Social Work's chosen theoretical models and frameworks) in action.

The fieldwork experience should [1]

• be a collaborative learning experience among students, clients and consumers of OT Services, clinical supervisors and Curtin University;
• enable students to take an active role within the site;
• be mutually beneficial to students and host fieldwork site and practitioners;
• be accepted as an essential part of professional growth for both students and fieldwork supervisors;
• occur in a positive learning environment;
• support students to account for their learning;
• enable students to link theory with practice;
• promote satisfaction for both students and clinical supervisors regarding the fieldwork experience;
• occur anywhere the roles and functions of an occupational therapist can be developed and integrated.

According to World Federation of Occupational Therapy (WFOT), fieldwork placements must be in locations offering differing levels of health care (e.g. acute care, rehabilitation, disability, community or wellness) and must always include: [2]

• People of different age groups;
• People who have acute and chronic health needs;
• Interventions that focus on the person, the occupation, and the environment.

WFOT Guidelines state that OT students complete a minimum of 1000 hours of approved clinical fieldwork. WFOT requires at least some placements to be up to eight weeks in length and that fieldwork is spread through all years of the program. Curtin�s fieldwork program provides students with more than 1200 hours of fieldwork experiences from first through to the final year of the program. The School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work has developed a comprehensive database that tracks student hours and experiences throughout the course enabling the fieldwork team to validate that each student has completed the required fieldwork hours.

All students only undertake fulltime fieldwork placements after they have completed the applied occupational therapy coursework units ensuring on all fieldwork placements they have all the pre-requisite knowledge to assess, plan and implement treatment programs.

Fieldwork should be a mutually rewarding experience for both the supervisor and the OT student. Hopefully you both will learn from each other - new skills, new theories and new ways of thinking about the scenarios we face as occupational therapists.

[1] Modified from the Canadian Guidelines for Fieldwork Education in Occupational Therapy, 2005 - available from http://www.ot.utoronto.ca/cs/fieldwork/fieldwork_manual/philosophy_principles.asp

[2] World Federation of Occupational Therapy, Revised Minimum Standards for the Education of Occupational Therapists, Council of World Federation of Occupational Therapists, Western Australia, 2002, p13.