An important aspect of developing as a professional is the ability to reflect on your own performance, evaluate it and identify strategies to improve their practice.
Students may need to be guided in their self assessment. It is important to establish that the student understands the required performance. The student may initially need help separating their emotional response to their performance (e.g. ‘that was terrible’ ) from what actually happened (e.g. what the student said, how the client responded, why did that happen, what could make that work better).
As students progress through their training their ability to self assess will also change and mature.
|
Stage of placement |
Characteristics of the stage |
Suggested self assessment activities for the student |
|
Beginning of the placing: adapting to the new environment |
Observing and practising Familiarising with protocols Looking for a role model Asking questions and seeking reassurance Building relationships with Clinical Educator and team
|
|
|
During the placement: Student is familiar with the placement and how it runs |
Finding a good role model Asking more specific questions Less supervision required |
|
|
Towards the end of placement |
Student is feeling comfortable with the placement Student is acting more like a health professional Greater mastery and evaluation of own performance so less supervision is required Comparing own performance to the criteria |
|
(Smith, 2013)
Lewis (2013) has an excellent article that contains guided questions to support students’ abilities to reflect on a clinical experience. There are questions to reflect on a significant event following a professional development activity and after a clinical encounter.
The Occupational Therapy Clinical Education Program has an OT Clinical Educator Tips: 'Reflection'. The tip sheet details a framework for reflection and activities to facilitate self-evaluation.
References
Lewis, A (2013) Reflective practice? What is it and how do I do it? Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech Language Pathology, 15(2), 70-74.
Smith, M (2013). Assessment of Clinical Learning. In Clinical and Fieldwork Placement in the Health Professions. 2nd Ed. Stagnitti, Schoo & Welch (Eds). Oxford University Press: Melbourne.
You may also be interested in...
Consistency in Assessment
This section has strategies to help achieve consistency in...
(read more...)
Key Points to Remember When Assessing Students
This section contains a list of points to remember when...
(read more...)
