Tonight’s #OTalk will be hosted by:
Dr Lisa Taylor (@drlisataylor) – Associate Professor in Occupational Therapy School of Health Sciences and Associate Dean in Employability Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of East Anglia Norwich. Lisa has a passion for employability with student transitions being a key part of UEA’s employability strategy.
Ruth Laws (@ruth_laws)– recent MSc preregistration graduate from UEA – now working as a band 5 occupational therapist within Suffolk. Whilst at UEA Ruth completed her MSc dissertation on student transitions, supervised by Lisa. Ruth has presented her work at an international conference, and then completed her elective placement with the Health Education England (HEE) Reducing Pre-registration Attrition and Improving Retention (RePAIR) team, having developed a keen interest in the transition from student to newly qualified practitioner.
Lisa and Ruth have a shared interest and passion in graduate transitions and how to make the flaky bridge of transition more stable!
The transition from student to newly qualified professional can be challenging, and is a period reported and explored withing the HEE RePAIR project, being described as the flaky bridge. In recognition of the difficulties newly qualified occupational therapists (NQOTs) face, the Elizabeth Casson Trust funded the project Year 1: Thriving not Surviving to develop a series of resources to support NQOTs. Preceptorship programmes have also been developed by many organisations with the aim to support graduates in their transitions. However, as Ruth found out in her dissertation, these programmes can have a dual impact. The programmes can provide both positive and negative contributions to the transition from student to NQOT, including aiding professional development and fostering a supported, structured environment, but also being confusing, complicated, frustrating, and stressful.
We would like to use our #OTalk to explore the experiences of the flaky bridge from all perspectives tonight for a rich discussion. We would love contributions from all health and social care professions, including students, HEI academics, careers and employability staff, recent graduates, clinicians, employers and statutory bodies and policy makers. We have put together a series of questions to capture the main considerations, offering insights as to how we can help stabilise the transition from student to graduate health care professional. We hope that you will join in this important conversation.
- What do students, higher education institutes and employers need to know and be prepared for, to aid graduate transition into the workplace?
- Based on your experiences, what resources, support, and advice has helped graduates transition into the workplace?
- How could placement-based learning experiences better prepare students for the transition into the workplace?
- What experiences do you have of preceptorship? How can this experience be maximised for all involved?
- How could an online peer assisted cross-professional support network/community for new graduates work in conjunction with the more formal individual preceptor packages?
Relevant resources
- Elizabeth Casson Trust Support for newly qualified Occupational Therapists https://elizabethcasson.org.uk/support-development/newly-qualified-ot-resources/
- Health Education England Reducing Pre-registration Attrition and Improving Retention https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/reducing-pre-registration-attrition-improving-retention
- Health Education England Preceptorship https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/capitalnurse/workstreams/preceptorship
- NHS Employers Preceptorships for newly qualified staff https://www.nhsemployers.org/articles/preceptorships-newly-qualified-staff
- Royal College of Occupational Therapists (2021). Career Development Framework. London: RCOT. Available at: https://www.rcot.co.uk/publications/career-development-framework
- The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust National Preceptorship Programme https://tavistockandportman.nhs.uk/training/workforce-development/national-workforce-skills-development-unit/current-projects/nhsei-national-preceptorship-programme-2022/
POST CHAT
Host: Dr Lisa Taylor (@drlisataylor) Ruth Laws (@ruth_laws)
Support on OTalk Account: Sam Pywell (@smileyfacehalo)
Evidence your CPD. If you joined in this chat you can download the below transcript as evidence for your CPD, but remember the HCPC are interested in what you have learnt. So why not complete one of our reflection logs to evidence your learning?
HCPC Standards for CPD.
- Maintain a continuous, up-to-date and accurate record of their CPD activities.
- Demonstrate that their CPD activities are a mixture of learning activities relevant to current or future practice.
- Seek to ensure that their CPD has contributed to the quality of their practice and service delivery.
- Seek to ensure that their CPD benefits the service user.
- Upon request, present a written profile (which must be their own work and supported by evidence) explaining how they have met the Standards for CPD.
OTalk 