CSP welcomes physio students onto new project-based placements

Sam Wynne, Ani Stoker, Abdul Wahab Bseiso and Chloe Munro began a four-week remote placement at the CSP earlier this week. 

They are all at varying stages of their studies and attend different universities in England, Scotland and Wales. 

The CSP is leading a campaign to address the urgent need for members to think differently about practice placements and create more capacity for quality learning opportunities following the cancellation of many placements due to Covid-19.  

Many practice educators , who would normally be involved in the provision of student placements were redeployed and many services were paused as the profession responded to the pandemic. 

Meanwhile, other individuals, institutions and organisations felt unable to offer placements as they normally would due to the introduction of lockdown regulations or new ways of working. 

As a result, many physiotherapy students have been left with a deficit of completed placement hours, which they require in order to qualify. 

Creating new learning opportunities

Commenting on the need for a broader range of placement opportunities, CSP professional adviser Tamsin Baird said: ‘We are encouraging all organisations and practice educators to think creatively about their placement offering. 

‘Student learning can happen in lots of different environments and we have the potential to not only add much needed capacity but also to unlock rich learning opportunities for our future workforce.

We are urging members to consider the learning opportunities that they could offer to create a placement and supervision model that works in their setting, with their team.

'This may include remote working, telehealth, face-to-face interaction, project work, research, leadership or a combination of these.

'Covid-19 has been a catalyst for innovative thinking and rapid implementation of new ideas and we are seeing some fantastic examples of new models being tested by our members.       

‘We want to lead by example, so we’ve designed a non-patient facing placement for our students, where they will be spending time with different members of the CSP, across various departments. 

‘We are delighted to have the students with us for a four-week period. They have a full timetable lined up contributing a very much valued student voice to our project work  - we are all learning together and shaping the placement as we go and encourage others to do the same’

An exciting opportunity  

Speaking about her new CSP placement, Ani Stoker, a third year physiotherapy student at Teesside University, said: 

'Working with the CSP is a great opportunity, and I'm looking forward to seeing how ideas and community projects are brought up through the organisation, allowing them to influence the profession on a wider scale.  

It will be interesting to explore the breadth of the CSP within a changing clinical environment and to see how that relates to us as students.  

Meanwhile, Abdul Wahab Bseiso, a mature physio student who is in the final year of his BSc Physiotherapy degree course at the University of East London, said:

I’m keen to gain experience and take part in projects that will benefit physiotherapists and help advance the profession even further. 

'The staff at the CSP are a team of highly intellectual, professional and approachable individuals who actively listen, value and appreciate students ideas .’  

Chloe Munro, who is in her fourth year at Glasgow Caledonian University, also said she was looking forward to the experience.  

'I’m excited that this is a different type of placement from what I'm used to.

‘And I’m also happy that I'll be able to be of service to the CSP and hopefully offer something useful.’  

Sam Wynne, who is currently in his first year of a two-year postgraduate diploma in physiotherapy studies at Bangor University, added that:

This is a unique opportunity to collaborate with future colleagues around the UK

'And I'm eager to learn about the differences and similarities of physiotherapy across the four nations.’  

Valuable project work  

During their placements, the four students will be tasked with a variety of projects. These will include producing new resources that provide a student point-of-view to quality placements; the creation of a new research-focused webpage on the CSP site and contributing a student perspective to an updated version of the Common Placement Assessment Form.   

The four students will work on the projects together, to offer each other peer learning, as well as working remotely on an individual basis. In addition to this, CSP staff will be on hand to continually offer guidance and supervision, and all of their learning will be evaluated throughout the process.