How a Student Fieldwork Advisory Committee Can Make Your Program More Inclusive

Originally published 6/2/2022 and updated 6/1/2024.

Fieldwork is an exciting time for students but can also be stressful. Students must navigate the process of receiving fieldwork placements, completing onboarding requirements, and preparing for various practice settings. Even with the guidance of an Academic Fieldwork Coordinator (AFWC), who is responsible for ensuring compliance with fieldwork standards, students often feel overwhelmed or lost in the process. Furthermore, students often feel like they don’t have much input.

Students can proactively engage in the fieldwork process by starting a Student Fieldwork Advisory Committee (SFAC). The SFAC’s mission is to provide a student-led initiative to promote communication between the AFWC and students, facilitate student-organized fieldwork education and training opportunities, and allow students to have a voice in the policies and procedures for the fieldwork program. Here are some tips on how to get started with a SFAC.

Getting started

• Talk with your school's AFWC or Program Director about increasing student involvement in the fieldwork process.
• Recruit student members. The optimal size for an SFAC is 10% to 15% of each OT class cohort. This percentage allows for representation of the student class and delegation of SFAC responsibilities among all members.
• Select student leadership positions. Because the SFAC is a student-led organization, establishing student leadership positions is key. Leadership positions can include:
  • Committee Chair: Facilitates SFAC meetings, determines upcoming business, and delegates tasks to subcommittees.
  • Secretary: Manages the administration and organization of SFAC operations (scheduling meetings, keeping minutes, managing files).
  • Class Liaison(s): 1 per class cohort; connects all students in the OT class, the AFWC, and the SFAC. Assists with scheduling fieldwork items around student schedules.

What can a student fieldwork advisory committee do?

Share student opinions and ideas with the AFWC

An essential role of student involvement in the SFAC is advising the AFWC on fieldwork policies and procedures. Although many fieldwork items must be completed in a specific manner to meet the ACOTE® standards, there are certain policies and procedures established by the AFWC and individual OT programs that are open to change. Getting student feedback on current and future policies and procedures allows the AFWC to consider the student perspective in these decisions. 

Here are some examples of SFAC involvement with policies and procedures:

• Annual review of Student Fieldwork Handbook. Do students understand the current policies the way they are presented? Are there any concerns over specific policies? Are there recommendations for clarifications or changes?
• Student input on policy development (e.g., site selection process, interview process, setting requirements, etc.). While ultimate policy decisions go back to the AFWC, considering the student perspective can be insightful and assist with policies that are within your program's control.
• Student feedback on their experiences with fieldwork throughout the program to assist with matching the students to the best site for them. 

Here are some examples of SFAC involvement with student engagement and awareness:

• Publish a fieldwork newsletter. Topics in the newsletter can include:
  • “A Day in the Life of an OT”—an interview between a student and a clinician to provide insights into working in a specific practice setting
  • Interviews with current students or recent alumni 
  • Interviews with fieldwork educators
  • Timelines for upcoming fieldwork items
  • Frequently asked fieldwork questions
  • Updates and reminders from the AFWC
  • Recent statistics on fieldwork placements (geographical locations, practice settings, etc.).
• Practice setting spotlight sessions. Invite a panel of three to four OT practitioners who work in the featured practice setting. Spotlight sessions can be facilitated in person or virtually. Virtual sessions allow practitioners from a wider geographical area to participate. Students develop questions for panelists based on classmate submissions. Panels are moderated by a volunteer student member of the SFAC.
• Fieldwork preparation workshops. Topics can include barriers to fieldwork success, conflict management strategies, and resources to use during fieldwork, with participation from invited panels of recent alumni or fieldwork educators.

Opportunities for growth and expansion 

There are additional opportunities for student-led fieldwork committees to explore, including:

• Inviting fieldwork educators to participate
• Increasing involvement from recent graduates
• Developing resource toolkits for different practice settings
• Establishing a journal club focused on fieldwork preparation (e.g., professionalism, communication, emotional intelligence)
• Creating connections with student advisory committees from other schools
• Hosting resource and idea sharing sessions during Level II fieldwork experiences.

In conclusion, creating a SFAC can provide an important link between the student body and the AFWC so students can feel prepared to begin their fieldwork journeys! 

In 2022 Courtney Buffaloe, Sarah LeBlanc, and Lily Rashid were all students in the Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) program and members of the SFAC at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).

Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the hard work and contributions of all the founding members of the SFAC at MUSC: Amanda Abes, Bailey Bullock, Kelsey Lattro, Sally Miller, and Ashlyn Shealy.