home and community care rehabilitation services faq visiting... · home and community care...
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All other info and documents found at http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/ipe/pcpc_intro.html
Home and Community Care Rehabilitation Services FAQ
What is it?
This is a mandatory experience in the pre-clerkship with two distinct elements:
□ A home visiting experience consisting of two half days, one during MF 4 and one during MF 5;
□ A Pro Comp tutorial in MF 5, involving your usual group and a guest clinician from a rehab discipline.
To make this happen, we have partnered with an agency called Community Rehab. They are a private
agency with over 300 rehabilitation professionals who provide services throughout Ontario. They
receive referrals and funding from CCACs (Community Care Access Centres), requests for staff relief
from institutions (hospitals and LTC Homes) and requests for services from insurance companies,
employers and individuals.
How do the home visits happen?
□ During the first week of MF4 the class will be provided with a sign-up sheet showing the available half day
slots in MF 4.
□ Sign up will be first-come, first-served, in person at Doreen’s desk.
□ Two students will go with each preceptor, so you may choose a partner and sign up together if you like and
if there is a double slot free when you sign up.
□ You will receive a confirmatory email with the contact info of your preceptor and the assigned day of
attendance.
□ It will then be your job to contact your clinician preceptor to confirm details about when and where you
will be meeting them to do your half day.
□ Once you meet your preceptor at the agreed upon location, you will travel with them to see the clients.
Visits may occur in private residences, schools or long term care facilities.
□ In preparation for your experience, your preceptors will have gone to each of the clients they would
normally see on that day to inform them of your visit and obtained consent to have you join in the visit.
□ You will need to sign confidentiality agreements and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board form
(WSIB) and bring it with you on the day of the placement. These will be provided to you via our program
website. Please visit http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/ipe/pcpc_intro.html to access all forms.
□ Participating clinicians include physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language pathologists,
dieticians and social workers. Clinicians are mostly from Hamilton – there are also preceptors in the KW
area and a few from Halton and Mississauga for students who prefer that region.
All other info and documents found at http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/ipe/pcpc_intro.html
Why are we doing this – what are the learning objectives?
In any given month, the same number of people who receive care in an emergency department receive
some form of professional home care. In the course of your training, you will experience and participate
in literally hundreds of emergency room episodes of care. For some of you, this will be the ONLY home
visit you will experience. However, all of you will rely on and make referrals for home care for your
patients whether you are in primary or tertiary care practices.
As well, this will be one of your first intentional exposures to health care professionals from disciplines
apart from medicine. You will get the chance to understand the scopes of practice and roles of clinicians
whose specialty lies in rehabilitative care.
Finally, we know that determinants of health play a major role in people’s vulnerability to illness and
their ability to recover from health setbacks. Visiting people in their own settings gives you insight into
their overall health – factors which promote both resilience and potential vulnerability. It’s also an
intense form of “patient-centred” care. Home visits even the playing field in ways that hospital or office
visits can’t achieve. You have a role to play – but you are also, in some ways, a “guest” in their homes
and lives.
Briefly put, the three major learning objective of this exercise are:
1. Have an exposure to a realm of care which is easily overlooked when you are immersed in
hospitals and ambulatory care clinics
2. Begin to deepen your understanding of the roles and scopes of practice of colleagues within
rehabilitation disciplines
3. Consider the impact of determinants of health on a person’s capacity to respond to their own
health issues
Why is this mandatory?
As part of the overall educational mission of the Faculty of Health Sciences, there is a goal for students
in all health care programs to participate in a series of educationally meaningfully experiences as part of
the “core curriculum”, to prepare them for interprofessional care environments.
In the MD program, the goal is to have a series of IPE “offerings” in both the pre-clerkship and clerkship.
(Some of you may have already participated in the elective aboriginal health day, the interprofessional
communication skills labs and other experiences offered by the Programme for Interprofessional
Education and Research). Currently, OT, PT and Midwifery students have achieved a meaningful,
mandatory component of interprofessional education in their core curricula. For this year’s class – i.e.,
you – we are piloting this home care project as the central pre-clerkship offering. . We have not yet
been able to offer to the whole class enough meaningful IPE experiences in the clerkship; however, the
goal is to have these for the Class of 2011.
All other info and documents found at http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/ipe/pcpc_intro.html
I was a physio/SW/dietician in my previous career...do I have to do this? Can I pick which professional
I will be matched with?
As you can imagine, the logistics of this experience are considerable. At present, our goal is to match
each student with two different health professionals. (ie – if you went with a SW in the spring, we will
match you with someone different in the fall). If you already have an expertise of some kind, your job
will be the “ratchet up” the learning objectives for yourself and perhaps share your expertise with your
colleagues.
What if I can’t find a date that suits me?
Over a six week period we are offering, on a first-come first-serve basis, a series of half days which have
been expressly chosen from “MD Program unstructured time”. We do recognize that tutorials and
clinical skill sessions occur during those times. For that reason, we are offering the equivalent of 200
slots to suit 150 students. As this is a mandatory experience, you will be expected to rearrange
horizontal electives or other “non-core” activities to accommodate a sign up time.
How is this being evaluated?
Let’s answer this in two parts. One has to do with student evaluation. The other is program evaluation.
Student evaluation
Your preceptor will complete a very brief evaluation of your performance during each half day. This will
largely focus on issues of professionalism and communication with clients. Be punctual and respectful.
You will also be asked to complete a brief short answer/reflection which will focus on the three learning
objectives. These will be read and you will be given formative feedback on your understanding and
insights into the questions. You will be asked to submit this evaluation to Gissele Damiani-Taraba
(program manager) via email. She will forward this information to a graduate student working with us
on this program, who will provide feedback to you.
Students will be able to access all forms through the program website,
http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/ipe/pcpc_intro.html . Please visit this website to view all student evaluation
forms, information you will require to complete before for your placement, and to find out more
about your chance to participate in some program evaluation and receive some food vouchers!
Program evaluation
All students will be asked to complete a brief evaluation of the overall experience including the
usefulness for your learning, feedback from improvement, etc. We will make every effort to incorporate
your suggestions into the fall experience, where appropriate.
Program evaluation – research component
All other info and documents found at http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/ipe/pcpc_intro.html
Let’s face it – this is an expensive program to run – especially for the first time. The idea for this project
originated 18 months ago when colleagues from Community Rehab approached us and asked if they
could participate in some meaningful way in medical education. Literally, Community Rehab are
spending money to partner with us. It seemed important to the long term sustainability of this project
to seek funding of some kind to defray some of the costs associated with logistics, faculty training,
administrative support, etc. This January we received grant funding from the Ministry of Health in
Ontario to research this project and to find out whether it can be taken up, in some form, by other
medical schools in the province. Part of this experience, therefore, is also the subject of research.
We are well aware that many of you feel “surveyed out”. Like it or not, the only way to fund innovative
educational projects is to tie them, in some way, to research questions. Please consider participating in
the research component as a way of recognizing the incredible efforts – largely volunteer – to invest in
your education.
As an incentive for participating in the research component of the project, you will be given a $15 Tim
Horton’s gift card, Starbucks or from participating restaurants. For more information on the vouchers
and about participating in our program evaluation, please visit our website,
http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/ipe/pcpc_intro.html.
Is there any way to prepare for this?
We have identified three short readings, which address each of the learning objectives. You will likely
derive more from your experience if you consult these readings prior to your home visits. You will find
all readings on our program website. To access the readings, please visit:
http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/ipe/pcpc_intro.html.
What will happen in the fall?
You will have one more home visiting half day (as mentioned, with a different discipline). Also, one of
your Pro Comp sessions will be attended by a health professional who participated in the precepting of
students. We have deliberately not yet finalized the content of that morning, preferring to hear from
both students and preceptors as to what will be most helpful following the home visit half days.