I was on a placement and my supervisor was great: she always tried to make us think by asking us a lot of clinical reasoning questions. This, however was a bit overwhelming during the first week; I (and one other student) needed to get used to her way of wording questions, and we found that at times, we wern't exactly sure what exactly she was asking. She has a different style of tutoring to what we have experienced previously. The tutor picked up on this, except she interpreted our confusion as aggression!!!
During a discussion about planning a treatment for a patient, the other student and me were not sure what exactly she wanted us to change in our treatment plan, so we questioned her about it. Her explanation still did not make sense to us, so we questioned her further. At this point the supervisor stated that she was sensing agressive body language from us, and that she felt that we thought that she was not an adequate tutor. We were shocked! This was so far from the truth! We explained to her that, at times, like now, we get confused by the way that she words her questions and explainations, and are not always sure what she wants us to say or do. We aplogised if we made her feel uncomfortable with our questions, and that we in no way meant to be aggressive or think she is an inadequate tutor. The supervisor understood and was happy that we had cleared the air. Now that she understood that our body language and our questioning was a result of confusion, she felt at ease and stated that she would endevour to try and explain things differently and welcome our questioning.
Before I started my clinics, I was worried that I may come across a tutor that I may not get along with (I have heard some horror stories). This experience highlighted why this may occur: misinterpretation of 'behaviour'. I was lucky that this supervisor decided to openly disscuss her potenial issue with me as soon as they came up, otherwise the rest of my placement would have been quite unpleasant, and my marks may have suffered. It has made me realise that if something is unclear to you, you must address it asap. In this example, I probably should have said to my supervisor that I do not always understand what she is asking of me rather than repeating my questions and standing there looking confused.
1 comment:
As I have experienced a similar situation of miscommunication with a tutor, I respect your up front approach when appropriate. Another student and I spent the whole five weeks of a placement gradually getting frustrated with our tutors methods of teaching instead of apporaoching her with suggestions as to the optimal learning environment. I think everyone can learn from this as it will more then likely occur at some stage in our career, wether with a tutor, patient or employer. Thanks for your insight as to possible ways to handle a difficult situation.
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