Identifying opportunities for student placements in a private practice context
Before taking a student on placement in private practice, supervisors should identify the learning opportunities that exist for students. These may include:
- Providing an extension of treatment for clients who have exhausted their health cover allowance.
- Leading group therapy or education sessions – students could deliver these sessions, provide them more frequently or provide individual support to a client who is participating in the group therapy session.
- Developing new client education materials.
It is important to have a sound understanding of the potential costs and benefits associated with student placements particularly in a private practice environment.
Useful resources
Resources that consider the costs and benefits for placements include:
- University of Queensland - School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences: Hosting allied health student placements in private practice
- Sax Institute (2015) Evidence Check: The costs and benefits of providing undergraduate student clinical placements costs and benefits of supervising undergraduate student clinical placements
- McBride et al (2018) Allied health pre-entry student clinical placement capacity: can it be sustained?
- ClinEdAus – Deciding to offer a clinical education placement
Working with students in private practice can provide benefits for you as a practitioner as well as for your organisation. The following links provide profession-specific benefits associated with student placements in private practice:
- For Occupational Therapy
- For Physiotherapy
References:
Please Note: References remain valid until superseded by later research. The resources referenced here are regularly reviewed and are considered current and relevant to the topics presented.
- Clinical Education Managers of Australia and New Zealand (CEMANZ) committee (2018) Physiotherapy student clinical placements: A guide for private practice providers. Accessed September 2019 from https://australian.physio/sites/default/files/Physiotherapy_student_clinical_placements.pdf
- Kauffman, T, Maloney, P and Schoo, A. (2013) Working in Private Practice. In Stagnitti, K., Schoo, A., & Welch, D. (Eds). Clinical and fieldwork placement in the health professions. (2nd edition). Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.
- Occupational Therapy Education Collaborative Queensland (2016) Offering Private Practice Placements. Accessed September 2019 from: https://otpecq.group.uq.edu.au/resources-publications/private-practice-placements/offering-private-practice-placements
- Ontario Council of University Programs in Rehabilitation Sciences (OCUPRS) Academic Coordinators of Clinical Education/Directors of Clinical Education (2013). Strategies for building clinical placements in private practice. Retrieved from: https://docs.google.com/a/griffith.edu.au/document/d/1bLnxpCojV9hPYjq7pmbqiM7SNvoJK5pIVm94sYQgNpk/edit
- Rorke, L (2005) “Clinical Education in Private Practice – creating win-win-win for students, universities and private practitioners” [Discussion paper] Queensland Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Collaborative, Australia.
- University of British Colombia – Department of Physical Therapy (2019) Private Practice Toolkit: https://physicaltherapy.med.ubc.ca/clinical-education/clinical-educator-professional-development/private-practice-toolkit/
