Currently on my last placement for fourth year, my goal is to work towards independence on a hospital ward to increase my confidence following graduation.
Prior to commencing this placement, a fellow student and I discussed our goals and expectations of this final placement with our supervisor who happened to be a new grad themselves. We both agreed that the main goal of this placement is to be able to run a ward, including obtaining ward lists in the am, identifying then prioritising the patients to be seen then carrying out the treatments.
In the first week of placement, the supervisor delegated all the suitable patients, which was fine as we were getting used to how things worked on this particular ward and at this hospital in terms of discharge, allied health teams and caseload expectations. This week we both asked for an opportunity to increase our input as to how the patients were divided and to increase our case load as last week was fairly light and not pushing us as much as we wanted. The supervisor agreed, but for the past four days he has continued to print off the lists in the am, give us four- five patients to be seen for that day and simply leave the patients notes for him to read over at the end of the day.
Both the other student and I have discussed the current situation and are trying to decide how to approach our supervisor about it. We understand that as a new grad he is not as experienced as a supervisor and doesn’t want to seem as though he is a dumping a workload on us, but at the same time he is treating us like a supervisor would have at the start of this year.
We have decided to address the situation by asking if we could have increased input in the am with handovers and practising dividing up and prioritising patients, which he can over see and make any changes he feels necessary. Hopefully next week we can ask for an increase in case load, depending on how he feels. Ultimately it would be most beneficial to our learning if we could simply practise these independent tasks, then get immediate feedback. If any one has been in a similar interest and would like to provide insight into how to ask for greater independence that would be appreciated.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I think it is hard for a supervisor to give us students the level of experience that we want. Ultimaly theey are responsibel for the ward and want to make sure the patients are being seen to accordingly. HoweevrI think you have done the rigfht thing by voicing what you would like to work on.
I had a similar experinece on my rural placement were I wanted to see more of neuro patients rather then only the respiratory patients. I asked the supervisor and he allocated me the few neuro patients the ward had. However he attened these treatment sessions withj me and I felt like I was rushed. I wasn't sure about telling him this as I know that he was busy, but now I think I should have spoken up. At the end of the day we are responsiple for our learning. I hope you spoke up and were able to get the experience you wanted/needed.
Post a Comment