The purpose of this research is to identify what students can or cannot do so that instructors can help them go through clinical training without extra distraction.

We created 12 questionnaires containing specific social situations which might occur during clinical training. The questionnaires are based on past experiences of 11 occupational therapy instructors from Tokyo Metropolitan University. Each questioner contained 10 questions and with  3 possible answers: “I think so,” “I don’t think so”, and “Nether of them”.
Totally 110 study volunteers (74 occupational therapists and 36 students) answered the questionnaires.

The data was evaluated, using Mann-Whitney U test to compare occupational therapists with students.

In Japan, most occupational therapy students are in their late teen. They have little or none social or work experiences. Moreover, the most of Japanese senior patients find person’s behavior and social manner extremely important.

One may ask: Which social manners should students know before they start working with patients? What kind of situations could be most confusing for students to deal with? In many cases, students who venture into clinical training without social experience often fail to learn efficiently because they stumble over basic social exchange with senior patients.

The results from 10 questionnaires about clinical skills, behavior and student´s communication as with patients did not show any significant difference in comparison with professional occupational therapist.

No significant situations:   
”When a student was late for work, what should have he/she done?”

”What was the best way for a student to keep hospital´s keys?”

“When a student broke a sphygmomanometer, what should have he/she done?”

“How to take note of observation on occupational therapists treat patients”

“How to communicate with instructors, when instructors supervise a student”

“How to communicate with young patient as an occupational therapy student”

“When a patient give a student a gift, what should have he/she done?”

“How to decide priority of work”

“How to clean a room which a student lent, when he/she vacate a room of a hospital”

“When staff members invite a student to a party, what should he/she done ?”

The results from of the other 2 questionnaires  show significant difference in answers from 3 of 10 questions

Significant situations (p<0.01):

“When a student had a lunch with his/her co-worker, what should he/she have done?

“When a printer is suddenly broken, what should he/she have done?”

Our results indicate that many students know appropriate manner on a theoretical level, but do not know exactly how to execute it in an actual situation. Borrowing from Benjamin Bloom’s educational taxonomy, we can say that they recognize some specific knowledge but still have not acquired necessary skills and attitudes to carry it out.

In Japan, there are often local rules or cultures in different hospitals. Some instructors request students to take appropriate action after their judgment of situation.

These results show that instructors should distinguish between common behaviors and local rules in a hospital, when they supervising students.

Instructors should not apply “their own local rules” for students, without follow the hospital rules.

Occupational therapy instructors are responsible to grasp how much students can do (instead of “know”) and help them learn appropriate social manner before their clinical training.

There was no significant on common behavior between occupational therapists and occupational therapy students.

Instructors should consider that students don’t understand local hospital´s rules.

Frequent internal communication between instructors and students is the key to make clinical training successful.

It is important that OT instructors and students have communication.
 

Thanks to all volunteers who contributed to this study.

Bloom, B.S., (Ed.). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals: Handbook I, cognitive domain. New York: Longman, 1956