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Faculty of Health Sciences

Occupational Therapy Program

Clinical Education

Welcome to McMaster University Occupational Therapy Clinical Education. The School of Rehabilitation Science and the Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy MSc (OT) Clinical Education would like to acknowledge the facilities, clinical education coordinators and preceptors who support student occupational therapists. Learning opportunities and experiences in Clinical Education placement courses are essential components in the occupational therapy curriculum and allow students to gain the appropriate skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours required for professional practice. We hope that these web pages are helpful to students and preceptors alike. If you have any suggestions for content please let us know.

General information

Expandable List

The terms clinical placement, fieldwork, and professional practice experience are often used interchangeably within the McMaster and clinical communities. The terms are used to describe the clinical education opportunities in which students participate.

Students apply knowledge acquired in the university setting and develop practical experience in clinical settings under the supervision of an occupational therapist. The purpose is to facilitate development of new knowledge, clinical reasoning skills and professional identity. The experience is collaborative among students, clients, preceptors, and university programs.

Clinical placements are assigned by the Director of Clinical Education of the MSc (OT) Program.

InPlace software is used for placement preferencing and to manage the placement matching process (with manual review as required).  

All final decisions regarding placement assignments are made by the Director of Clinical Education (DCE). Students will be given opportunities to identify preferences in each placement period. Students are in no way guaranteed any of their preferences for any placement period. 

No. Placements are assigned through a randomization process and no specific requests from sites are granted.

Placements can take place in the McMaster Occupational Therapy catchment area and in Northern Ontario through the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM).

As reflected in the practice of Occupational Therapy in Canada, some placements may be located in rural, under-serviced and remote areas. In the NOSM placement stream, external funding may be available. Please note that all travel and accommodation costs for placements inside the catchment area and international placements are not covered by the program and are the responsibility of the student.

McMaster’s Occupational Therapy in catchment area consists of sites in many geographical areas, all of which may form the resource pool for each placement course. Therefore, you are also expected to travel outside of Hamilton, Ontario, for mandatory teaching sessions and clinical placements. You are responsible for your own transportation and associated costs to complete program requirements.

Click here for a map of McMaster’s clinical catchment area.

Students are expected to travel outside of Hamilton, Ontario for mandatory teaching sessions and clinical placements. Students are responsible for their own transportation and associated costs in order to complete program requirements. Some placements maybe located in rural, under-serviced and remote areas.

Placements by Term

Placement Learning Outcomes   Timing
OTP I This course is a comprised of a four-week full-time fieldwork opportunity. Students will apply occupational therapy theories and models learned in class to the placement setting. Students will establish therapeutic relationships and begin to engage in different parts of the practice process as negotiated with preceptors. Preceptors will prompt students’ clinical reasoning by asking questions and students will initiate identification of strengths and weaknesses in personal performance and will be able to give, receive, and integrate general feedback. 4 weeks
November to December
OTP II This course is comprised of an eight-week full time fieldwork opportunity.  Students will engage in all parts of the practice process, but not necessarily with the same client from beginning to end. The preceptor will facilitate problem solving in collaboration with students. Students will focus on developing skill in assessments, consolidating academic learning with clinical learning, and increasing independence in working with clients. 8 weeks
March to
May
OTP III This course is a comprised of an eight-week full-time fieldwork opportunity. Students will participate in all parts of the practice process independently with a partial caseload, in consultation with preceptors. 8 weeks
January to March
 OTP IV This course is a comprised of an eight-week full-time fieldwork opportunity. Students will develop and implement an assessment, intervention, and outcome measurement plan for a up to a full caseload with a typical level of complexity.   Preceptors will provide feedback as need on skills areas that students are working on developing in preparation for entry to practice. 8 weeks
June to August

Placement Opportunities

Students must be prepared to complete all clinical placements anywhere inside the McMaster University catchment area, even if outside of Hamilton, ON.

In agreement with the University of Western Ontario and St. Joseph’s Health Care London, and when possible, Clark Heard, OT Reg. (Ont.) offers placement opportunities to McMaster students at the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care in St. Thomas, ON. These placements are specifically designated as McMaster placements, resulting in the McMaster University catchment placement boundary extending to this one location and opportunity in St. Thomas. Therefore, student OTs may be matched, within McMaster University catchment, to this opportunity

All placement allocations are based on the supply of available placements, facilities, and Occupational Therapy Preceptors. Due to these factors, particular sites, practice areas, or geographical preferences will never be guaranteed.

McMaster University Catchment Area

As soon as sufficient placements are obtained, students in the McMaster University catchment area for OTP I, OTP II, OTP III, and OTP IV will have the opportunity to review the list of available placements and submit their top fifteen preferences for consideration.

Randomized Selection Process

  • For McMaster University catchment area placements, all submitted students’ preferences are entered into a software system that assists with the matching process.
  • The probability of each student obtaining one of 15 preferences depends directly on the number of students requesting any given placement.
  • Following the randomized process, the initial matched list is reviewed and adjusted to meet all requirements related to issues such as:
    • Meeting formal documented academic accommodations for students registered with Student Accessibility Services (SAS), religious observance, etc.
    • Requirements of site and/or preceptor such as timing of placement

Out of Catchment

Currently there is no formal out-of-catchment placement process for MSc OT students at any university across Canada (with the exception of University of British Columbia). A new out-of-catchment placement process is currently being developed at a national level by the Committee on University Fieldwork Education (CUFE) and it is expected that updated information will be available in upcoming months.

International Placements

In OTP IV, students have the option of applying to complete an international placement. The Occupational Therapy program believes that international learning experiences have the potential to:

  • Enhance students’ sensitivity to other cultures, awareness of global health issues and different health care systems
  • Prepare health care professionals to adapt their practice to their own culturally diverse communities
  • Support and promote the profession internationally and enable the student to act as an ambassador for Canadian occupational therapy.

The International placement stream is defined as encompassing the developed and developing world. Students who meet specified criteria are provided the opportunity to complete their OTP IV placement in an international setting.

NOSM Stream

The Northern Studies Stream (NSS) was established in 1991 to specifically address the shortage of OTs, PTs, and SLPs in Northwestern Ontario through various recruitment and retention initiatives. This is a joint initiative between McMaster University and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM). NOSM coordinates student placements across northern Ontario for a multitude of health disciplines.

The goals of the current NSS are threefold:

  • To increase student awareness and knowledge of the health determinants that are unique to northern and rural communities;
  • To increase student awareness of health issues, culture, and health practices relevant to the Indigenous Peoples living in northern and rural Ontario; and
  • To increase student skills in addressing professional practice issues while engaging in clinical education and living in a northern and/or rural community.

With 30 years of documented success, the current NSS is focused on providing clinical education opportunities for students across northern Ontario. Each year, students in the McMaster OT Program will have the opportunity to apply for a clinical education placement in northern Ontario.

Students who are Northern Ontario residents will be given priority for placements, however, any student, regardless of residency, may apply. Clinical education sites may be located in the communities of:

Early in Term 1, a NOSM information session is held for all students. To apply for the NOSM stream, students:

i) Complete an electronic preference form, listing which placement term they wish to apply for the NOSM stream. Students may list more than one term but must rank these terms listed in order of preference.

ii) May be required to submit a letter, indicating why they would like to complete a placement in Northern Ontario. These letters are reviewed and ranked accordingly for each placement term.

Students selected will submit preferences of location and clinical practice prior to their placements term. Instructions and timelines will be provided by the DCE. Once students have been assigned an NOSM placement, it is their responsibility to fulfill this agreement. The only reason that is accepted for withdrawing from an NOSM placement is for medical concerns (documentation must be provided) or extenuating circumstances. Please speak directly to the DCE.

Students not selected for a NOSM placement will default into the McMaster University catchment area and can request to be placed on a waiting list.

Please note: The McMaster OT program may limit the number of Northern Ontario placements per student throughout the 2-year program.

For more information about the NOSM stream visit the NOSM website.

Placement Locations

Occupational Therapy Program placements can take place in a variety of areas throughout Southern Ontario. The following lists display the core and shared catchment areas that the program covers. You can also view the catchment map on the ACOTUP website at https://www.acotup-acpue.ca/interactive-map/.

Expandable List

City Region
Barrie Simcoe
Brantford Brant
Burford Brant
Burlington Halton
Fergus Wellington
Georgetown Halton
Hagersville Haldimand
Hamilton Hamilton – Wentworth
Milton Halton
Oakville Halton
Orangeville Dufferin
St. Mary’s Perth
City Region
Brampton Peel
Mississauga Peel
City Region
Cambridge Waterloo
Fonthill Niagara
Fort Erie Niagara
Grimsby Niagara
Guelph Wellington
Niagara Falls Niagara
Port Colborne Niagara
St. Catharines Niagara
Thorold Niagara
Welland Niagara

Evaluation

Practicum Evaluation

The Competency Based Fieldwork Evaluation for Occupational Therapists (CBFE-OT) (Bossers, et al., 2007) is used to evaluate student performance during all practica experiences and guides remedial work. The use of the CBFE-OT which incorporates both visual analogue scale (VAS) and student learning objectives, reinforces the student’s role as an active participant in the process of learning rather than a passive recipient. In the professional preparation setting, the CBFE-OT allows the student to meet the Program objectives and also to pursue individual objectives.

CBFE-OT is a document drawn up by the student and negotiated and approved by the practice preceptor or faculty member. It specifies seven essential competencies, what the student will learn, how this will be accomplished, within what time frame, and what specific evaluation criteria will be used for each objective. The CBFE-OT reconciles the “imposed” requirements of the Program with the learner’s own personal goals and objectives. It enables the student to individualize his/her own way of achieving personal learning objectives, and to measure the progress towards achieving them.

Objective measurement of the attainment of essential competencies through the integration of skills, knowledge and professional behaviours is also guided by the competencies from the Profile of Occupational Therapists in Canada.

Preceptor Resources