Clinical Education
Physiotherapy
Clinical Placement General Guidelines
During a clinical placement, students must assume full responsibility for carrying out policies that are defined by the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa. These are described below. In particular students must always consider themselves guests of the clinical facility and act with respect for the facility’s policies and procedures.
- Students must assume responsibility for following the policies and procedures defined by the clinical facility to which they have been assigned.
- All students must comply with the choice of clinical facility to which they have been assigned by the Academic Coordinator of Clinical Education.
- Students must comply with the dress code.
- Students must be knowledgeable about and assume responsibility for carrying out the policies defined in the, Faculty of Health Sciences, Calendar Undergraduate Studies.
- Students assume primary responsibility for meeting the objectives of the clinical placement; for actively participating in all clinical experiences during the placement; and continually evaluating their performance by seeking feedback from supervising therapists and by monitoring their own progress.
- Students are responsible for keeping their student profile up-to-date at the completion of each placement.
- Students must participate actively in the evaluation progress of their clinical performance by completing a self-evaluation using the approved evaluation form at mid-placement and at the end of the clinical placement.
- Students must inform their supervising therapist of any factor which might limit their work performance, or any problem which may arise during a placement that would have an impact on client care or on the students’ well being. Students have the option of first contacting the Academic Coordinator of Clinical Education concerning any problem.
- Students must inform the Academic Coordinator of Clinical Education when they are assigned to a facility where:
- a close friend or relative would be responsible for their evaluation.
- a close friend or relative works or is a patient, thus interfering with the learning experience.
- They have been a client.
- The supervising therapist must be informed immediately in the event of an unusual incident occurring either to a client or to the student, during a client’s treatment.
- Students must take into consideration the limits of their knowledge and abilities. They must not undertake work for which they are not sufficiently prepared without first obtaining necessary assistance/guidance from their supervising therapist (s).
- Students must not misrepresent their level of knowledge or competency to a client or their family.
- Students must always identify themselves to their clients as students in physiotherapy. They must wear a nametag stating their name, and their affiliation with the University of Ottawa physiotherapy program.
- Students must respect the confidentiality of all written and verbal information concerning clients.
- Students must refrain from all indiscrete conversation related to a client and their treatment.
- When personal information is requested, students must justify to the client the rationale behind this request, and the potential use of this information.
- Students cannot breach the professional trust of confidentiality without written authorization of the client or without an order by the court of law.
- Students must advise their supervising therapist of all requests by a client to see or copy information written in the medical chart.
- Students must complete the form “Student’s Evaluation of the Clinical Placement” and return it to the Academic Coordinator of Clinical Education within three weeks following the completion of the clinical placement.
- Students must ensure that all documents, reports, notes and exercise programs placed in a client’s chart or given to the client, are countersigned by the supervising therapist (clinical educator).
