For the second straight year, the Department of OSOT took part in Building Bridges (Bridges), an annual event to connect OTs from Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health for a day of education and research.
Bridges, which has been running since 1998, is an important opportunity for our department to be out and about in the clinical community, hold informal conversations with clinicians, and secure placements for our MOT students. In the past, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor of Teaching Donna Drynan and Clinical Associate Professor and Associate Academic Fieldwork Coordinator Jeff Boniface would see preceptors regularly at the preceptor education workshops, but, during the pandemic, these meetings had to be virtual.
All of this changed last year, when, upon Assistant Professor of Teaching Tanya Fawkes’ initiative, our fieldwork team held a booth at Bridges as a way to reach out and see preceptors in person after being virtual for so long. This year, we held another booth, represented by Fieldwork Education Manager Stephanie Gardner, Assistant Professor of Teaching and Academic Fieldwork Coordinator Alexis Davis, and Jeff. The OSOT Fieldwork Table had many visitors, a lot whom were new to preceptorship and interested to start. Our fieldwork team ran surveys on the amount and format of preceptor education that visitors to the booth would like to receive.
OSOT Department Head Dr. Ben Mortenson is part of the steering committee for Bridges, and our department presents at Bridges every year. This year, Professor Dr. Tal Jarus delivered an update on our MOT Program. Professor Emerita Dr. Catherine Backman and Clinical Assistant Professor Sarabjeet Charchun, this year’s keynote speakers, delivered a presentation entitled “Leading the Way – Picturing Leadership Big and Small.” Additionally, some of our MOT students attended Bridges as part of their fieldwork placements.
Another change spurred by the Bridges success was our return to holding in-person preceptor education workshops again. Alexis travelled to Prince George, where Assistant Professor of Teaching Dr. Elisha Williams and she delivered the first-ever hybrid fieldwork preceptor workshop (with Jeff supporting the online participants) and the first post-COVID in-person instruction for preceptors. This workshop was requested by the Northern Health OTs and was a great opportunity to engage and discuss fieldwork issues in a meaningful way.
After the workshop, making the most of her trip to Prince George, Alexis joined Elisha to watch MOT student Rachel Smith play in Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team’s game against the US.
Plans to deliver workshops for preceptors in all of the health authorities are already underway. Stay tuned for updates to this exciting work.