We give the students pre-placement briefings in which we discuss with them how placements are organised, what we expect them to do, what expectations we have of their conduct and behaviour, and how to contact you.
These are also available as recorded presentations for the students. They can additionally access placement information on their Canvas dashboard.
We inform the students that hospital and community placements are primarily participatory, rather than specifically about the practice of techniques and procedures. In general, the objectives of these placements are to expose them to a range of learning opportunities, for example:
Please facilitate as many opportunities as possible to practice supervised examination skills with the consent of the patient within their scope of practice at that time in their training.
Students will require signatures to evidence their attendance in placement. We teach them how to approach coaching conversations and write their Learning Logs. For hospital and community placements, we expect them to contact you for placement arrangements (e.g. shifts) no less than two weeks ahead.
The students bring a Practice Learning Log (PLL) with them to record their learning activities. This takes a form that will likely be familiar to you as the Coaching Model (TGROW) used in nursing and other allied health practice documentation.
For paramedic students, the completion of the PLL is formative in the first and second yrs and summative in their final, third year of training. All years are required to complete a 'Learning Log' for each shift. This requires the Practice Supervisor to give a few sentences of feedback to account for their learning and conduct. They must also have their timesheet signed to confirm their attendance.
Each PLL explains the Coaching Conversation and we have written instructions about the Learning Log for both students and Practice Supervisors to refer to. Some examples are below:
You can also download the Level 6 Placement Learning Log for 2022-23 (PDF).
The following PLL and information booklets provide students and supervising healthcare professionals to facilitate learning opportunities:
We have also provided posters for each area of placement which you and your staff may refer to for a summary of key messages for these student placements. These are available here:
We expect our students to arrive on time, always identify themselves as a Paramedic student, respect confidentiality at all times and be courteous. They are also expected to apply themselves, be accountable, and remember that they are an ambassador for ARU and the paramedic profession.
If the student’s conduct falls below this standard, then we have Cause for Concern forms (Word doc) which may be used to raise issues about students placed with you. The Cause for Concern process helps ARU to identify students requiring additional support.
Practice Supervisors should ensure they communicate the reason for this form with the student and send it to the Practice Support Facilitator and Personal Tutor, whose details you can find at the beginning of the PLL and the student paramedic support page. We then action your concerns by arranging meetings with the student to discuss the issues raised and agree an Action Plan.
Students will require signatures to evidence their attendance in placement. We teach them how to approach and write their Learning Logs and we instruct them to contact you for placement arrangements (e.g. shifts) no less than two weeks ahead.
We've put together a PowerPoint presentation about student paramedics in hospital placement to help support you and your staff.
All ARU students complete an internal covid risk assessment process and if flagged, they may undergo further review from our OH provider before they attend placement. If their assessment recommends specific restrictions to their practice, e.g. what covid risk level areas they may be exposed to, this will be discussed with the placement area.
They should be facilitated to wear appropriately fitted masks at all times during placement activity and conform to the Trust’s covid policy. They will have been fitted for masks prior to placement, however if they have required hoods they should be able to bring these with them to placement. They have been asked to make enquiries with you directly if they have any concerns about bringing this PPE with them to placement.
Students have a pre-placement briefing alongside briefings provided by the Ambulance Trusts so that they understand:
This information is also made available as recorded presentations for the students on their Placement Information site at ARU.
Students will require signatures to evidence their attendance on each shift. We teach them about how to approach and write their Learning Logs and have coaching conversations with their PEd.
Students need to achieve competence to meet the HCPC Standards of Proficiency for Paramedics and the HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics. Competence against these skills is assessed in practice in a summative, pass/fail manner by PEds at the end of their third year placement.
By this point, students should identify, with support, an area of focus for their learning during the shifts and record this in their Learning Log. In the curriculum there are seven ‘domains’ which match against the broad areas of competence needed to complete a patient care episode. Students should aim to complete at least two Learning Logs that refer to each of the ‘domain’ areas.
The domains are:
The students need to achieve a minimum of 21 Learning Logs throughout all placements. They should have completed three Learning Logs for each of the seven domains. These should be self-directed by the student and completed by them. They will document their discussions with you about their practice in all seven domains, and then at the end of each Learning Log the PEd will need to give a summary of their feedback. This approach to practice learning is based on a coaching model.
Coaching concerns the facilitation of learning through the development of a professional relationship based on rapport and trust. This can support the development of interpersonal and communication skills, professional behaviours and critical thinking.
A PEd who is encouraging, sets boundaries and actively builds respect and trust can create a sense of safety, so that the PEd may be able to hold more challenging conversations that arise during the student’s supervision and teaching. A relationship like this also encourages students to discuss their learning requirements and believe that these will be heard and addressed.
The environment for learning matters and the mentoring relationship is embedded in everyday interactions in the whole environment the student is exposed to, whether this is at the station or on the road, and in formal or informal settings. The PEd role-models behaviours these students will adopt in their own clinical practice and development.
The coaching principles also inform some key mentor skills:
This is the coaching model used to help structure a student-led coaching conversation in order to formulate a learning goal which is recorded in the Learning Log.
The student needs to choose a topic that relates to one of the seven domains. This conversation is then structured to reflect the TGROW model:
The student will choose a learning goal arising from one of the competency domains (Topic). They then need to consider what experience they have of this in the past (Reality) and if there will be opportunities to meet their goal and how they may approach it (Options). The goal is agreed in partnership and is a much less prescriptive approach to learning that can be more tailored to the particular needs of the individual student.
You can view some sample Learning Logs here:
We have also created Posters for each Trust to make available to their staff to help them understand the student’s learning needs and Practice Learning Log:
The PEd will need to complete a mid-point and end-point review of placement in which they give the student verbal and written feedback on how they are progressing for each domain. We recommend that the student agrees a date with their PEd to hold these reviews well ahead of time.
The completion of both reviews ensures that PEd and student share a good, mutual understanding of continuing learning needs. The mid-point review should be sufficient for the PEd to have formed an opinion as to their progress in all domains, and more importantly, provide clarity about priorities for their clinical learning needs for the remainder of their placement.
If the student is having consistent difficulties in their progress in a domain or their approach to learning and conduct, please consider whether a Cause for Concern form (Word doc) would be an appropriate way to address their needs and ensure improvement. Unlike the Cause for Concern process, a DAP will not draw in additional resources from the University or Trust to support you or the student in your work together to progress their development. Please refer to the student paramedic support page for further details on the Cause for concern process.
We expect our students to arrive on time, always identify themselves as a Paramedic student, respect confidentiality at all times and be courteous. They are also expected to apply themselves, be accountable, and remember that they are an ambassador for ARU, the Trust and the paramedic profession as a whole. They are expected to demonstrate professionalism in line with the HCPC ‘Guidance on conduct and ethics for students’.
If there are concerns around aspects of conduct or professional practice please refer to the student paramedic support page.
All ARU students complete an internal covid risk assessment process and if flagged, they may undergo further OH review before being cleared for placement. EEAST also have a covid Assessment process prior to placement. They should be facilitated to wear appropriately PPE at all times during placement activity that conforms to the Trust’s covid policy.