UNE Occupational Therapy students complete simulated field work experience

When the novel coronavirus pandemic forced students in the University of New England’s 职业治疗理学硕士(M.S.O.T.)项目 to forgo their traditional field work placements this fall, Jessica Walton, M.S., 工程/ L, 波士顿咨询公司, assistant clinical professor and academic fieldwork coordinator for the program, 知道该怎么做.

她叫道恩-玛丽·邓巴，M.S.N./Ed.，注册会计师，CNE, CHSE, UNE 's主任 跨专业仿真与创新中心 (ISIC)和临床护理学教授, to devise a way for the students to complete their level-one Mental 健康 field work requirements using simulated patient actors.

“很多组织都选择了预制, 在线计算机程序模拟, but we really wanted to go above and beyond that because we know our students were excited about those in-person experiences,沃尔顿说. “We wanted to try to do our best to meet their needs and their desires.”

Walton and Dunbar worked with Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy Jan Froehlich, M.S., 工程/ L, 以及助理教授Carol Lambdin-Pattavina, 定单计划/ OTRL, 谁, 在一起, 开发案例研究供病人演员模拟, to lead第一年.S.O.T. students in a simulated field work experience — a first for the program.

在模拟中心, 并且结对或小组合作, students spent five days compiling their clients’ occupational profiles and identifying their needs, 对患者的症状进行正式评估, 制定治疗干预措施是一个过程, 沃尔顿说, that likely was more hands-on than the students’ work in the field would have been.

“The students were able to do an activity with the simulated patients based on all of that information in the occupational profile. 在我们实际的现场工作地点, the students probably would not have gone through that entire process or be as actively involved,她说.

2022届学生朱莉·格德纳(Julie Geldner)表示同意.

“The amount of time and support that was available to us to be able to take charge and be responsible for a client would not be as available in a workplace field work experience, 我很幸运能有这个机会,”她说。.

萨曼莎·奥瑞玛(M.S.O.T., ’22), 盖尔德纳的一个小组成员, said the experience made her more comfortable with the administrative side of her chosen profession.

“This simulation allowed us our first real opportunity to complete the therapeutic process from start to finish, and the simulated environment put me at ease and I was not scared to fail or ask questions because I was surrounded by peers and faculty 谁 were all there to help me succeed,肯纳邦克本地人说. “The simulation helped me better the therapeutic process and the documentation involved in planning an intervention activity for a client.”

加入格尔德纳和奥丽玛的是萨曼莎·宾尼, 谁 said an added benefit of the simulation was the ability for them to view their interactions, 都被记录下来了, 每次会议结束后.

Unique to ISIC is the ability for students to view their interactions 每次会议结束后, 批评自己和对方, and use those recordings for their final field work reflection papers.

“The recordings allowed us to reflect on what we did really well — both as a group and individually — and evaluate what we should do better in following sessions,宾尼说. “This simulation allowed me to practice my therapeutic use of self-skills, 做一个善于反思的倾听者, 与我的团队合作, 创新和现场思考.”

While all three students said the experience was not the same as working with real-life patients 谁 struggle with their mental health, they agreed that the simulation prepared them well for future experiences with such clients. Dunbar said the fact the sessions were recorded helped bolster the students’ confidence in working in clinical settings.

“We can teach students in the classroom about all the different skills and different tactics they can use to help their clients. But if we send them out to an actual clinical site to see real clients, we have no control over how that interaction is going to take place. The beauty of simulation is that we could take our time and provide a really rich learning experience,邓巴说. ”,, 如果我们把它们发给客户, they don’t get to see their interactions and have that self-assessment of their own performance. The impact that has on students’ learning and self-confidence is huge.”

The simulated field work experience is being incorporated into other areas of the OT curriculum, Lambdin-Pattavina说. 在春天, students in the Children and Youth field work exploration will meet as groups in the Simulation Center and use telehealth to meet with real clients via Zoom. 他们的谈话将被记录下来, 也, to provide the same learning outcomes as the mental health simulation.

“This is something that we’re definitely going to embed in our curriculum,Lambdin-Pattavina解释道. “We’re really thrilled that we can be involved in this process of actively engaging students in these scenarios. And, for them, the ability to interact with their teammates is invaluable.”

Froelich说，模拟的好处是双向的.

“We got to do quite a bit of mentoring of students along the way 也, and it was enjoyable to see their clinical reasoning process really unfold across the week in a way that we don't normally see in the classroom,”她说。.