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AHP students in public health settings - Toolkit 1: Organisations
Increasing placement capacity is at the forefront of most education institutions minds as we are aiming to increase the number of AHPs in the workforce. Finding placements can be a barrier to expanding into public health focused services and the administrative burden of setting up placements can further prevent this.
Back to Supporting the Development of Placements for Allied Health Professional Students in Public Health Settings
Toolkit 1: Organisations working within public health arenas
This toolkit aimed at organisations includes the following sections and accompanying checklists, templates ideas to help support and guide your outcomes.
- Considering offering a public health placement
- Setting up public health placements
- Learning areas
- Establishing what the students will do
- Supporting and supervising students
- Assessing students
Download Toolkit 1: Organisations working within public health arenas
Top tips for organisations/placement providers from the case study authors
- Think about the opportunities you have in your practice and what you could offer to students.
- Think about what you are already doing that would be fantastic to have a student voice on.
- Consider the intergenerational benefits which can accrue from young people working with your participants/clients if they are of an older generation.
- Answer the questions from the case studies yourself to start thinking about what you can offer.
- Collaboration and building relationships are essential to establishing successful placements and to demonstrate a commitment to new ways of working to improve health, for underserved populations.
- Be open-minded.
- Be brave! If it is the first time, it is new and takes getting used to, but give it a go.
- Offer the students the reality of the multi-factorial aspects of your work rather than feeling they need to focus on clinical skills only.
- Try not to focus on what you want the outcome to be, just sow the seeds and reap the benefits. It is about getting the message out and increasing enthusiasm in prevention and public health that is important.
- Don’t strive for perfection as we are all learning.
- Collaborate or co-create the placement with the university and students to shape the project together.
- Realise that you or someone in your organisation will have to devote quite a lot of time to the mentoring process (setting up the placement, reading the background literature from the university, mentoring students after each session to help them analyse and reflect on their practice, and writing reports at the mid and final point of the placement.
- Celebrate at the end of the placement.