So first one…what does it feel like preparing for a learning placement? You might be a student getting yourself ready for your very first time in practice or you could be a practice teacher awaiting your first student. Either way, practice learning is a significant part of the health and social care education experience and the first one is a breeding ground of nerves, excitement and anxieties.

What are the hints, tips and hacks that make for a successful partnership between practice teacher and student? What can you do before, during and after your first placement experience to make it an effective learning opportunity? How do you best support learning on placement? How can you capitalise on your placement learning once you are back at university?

This chat helps you pack your placement kitbag, learn from others and share experiences. We welcome participation from learners from all stages of learning programmes, tutors in practice and educators in universities. We would also welcome contributions to the chat from service users, their families and carers who can inform what good looks like in practice learning.

Suggested reading:

Bell J, Cox D, Marcangelo C (2014) Master's level occupational therapystudents on

placement: An exploration of perceptions and expectations. British Journal of OccupationalTherapy, 77(4), 181-188.

Rodger S, Webb G, Devitt L, Gilbert J, Wrightson P, McMeeken J (2008) Aclinical education

and practice placements in the allied health professions: aninternational perspective. Journal

of Allied Health, 37(1), 53-62.

Kearsley C (2012) Non-traditional practice placements: a starting pointfor service development. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 75 (5),244-246

Rodger S, Fitzgerald C, Davila W, Millar F Allison,H (2011) What makes a quality occupational therapy practice placement?Students’ and practice educators’ perspectives. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal 58 (3), 195-202

Hiscox K, Tilden L (2015) Placement Survival Guide [24 August 2015] available from <http://ottaboutot.weebly.com/blog/archives/08-2015>[29 July 2016]

About our Guest Hosts

Dr Kate Cuthbert - I am the Academic Lead for Health and Social Care at The Higher Education Academy. I have worked in universities producing and delivering learning opportunities across health and social care but my heart is in inter professional learning, patient safety; quality improvement science). I have authored book chapters on inter professional learning and student leadership. I have delivered national learning programmes in patient safety as part of the NHS III safer care initiative and headed up numerous validation and quality assurance activities in Higher Education Institutions, working to meet professional / regulatory body requirements and health sector needs. I have significant experience in facilitating change within learning organisations and a strong belief in the strength of learners to help create a thriving NHS. My work at the Higher Education Academy has included whole organisational change programmes, curricula reviews and the delivery of the HEA Teaching Excellence Programme. I was part of the development team for the HEA toolkits and through this have learnt a lot about supporting individuals on their learning journey via tech and online materials. I tweet for the Health and Social Care team at the HEA and often host twitter chats for #HEA chat. My PhD explored health beliefs in 8 Post-Soviet states- sometimes this is useful!

Dr Stephanie Tempest- I am the lead for Professional Development at the College of Occupational Therapists (COT). Of relevance to this topic is my experience as: a student on my own placements; a practice placement educator; a practice placement coordinator in the NHS; a practice placement module leader within higher education; and now part of the COT team supporting the accreditation of practice placement educators. I engage with and host twitter chats for #OTalk and I tweet regularly on issues relevant to CPD within occupational therapy and the wider AHP community.  My PhD explored the use of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)to enhance communication within the multidisciplinary acute stroke team using action research.  Embedded in the way I work is a collaborative approach to co-produce and create knowledge and learning. @SetG75

Kelly Hiscox- I am a new graduate occupational therapist from Coventry University. I began to support other occupational therapy students when I was a student myself. I created a blog called OTT about OT, which initially I used to document my reflections of the COT annual conference 2015,however I’ve since uploaded other posts containing useful advice for OT students. One blog post was a placement survival guide, whereby I used my experiences on placements to provide OT students with useful tips to succeed on placement. I achieved a First in all three of my occupational therapy student placements;on one placement I only dropped two marks from the maximum total, therefore, I am equipped to provide useful advice and share my experiences from placement to support those participating in the tweetchat. Now, I am the Student Liaison Officer at the College of Occupational Therapists (COT) supporting the national occupational therapy student population through their degree by encouraging them to become members of COT. Promoting the benefits of membership to COT requires me to build strong relationships with HEI educators from all 31 national universities with occupational therapy programmes, in all four countries of the United Kingdom who invite me to visit student cohorts or attend university led events to represent the professional body.