Students who graduate from the Kent State East Liverpool physical therapist assistant program or the occupational therapy assistant program benefit greatly from their experiences during the clinical phases of their education. To ensure that the clinical experiences meet the university’s expectations, faculty and staff from both programs recently held a seminar to train educators who will work with Kent State University at East Liverpool students in clinical settings.
According to Nina Sullivan, the academic fieldwork coordinator for the OTA program, this seminar helped educate the next generation of fieldwork educators and clinical instructors in the skills and knowledge needed to successfully supervise students in the clinical settings.
The day-long seminar offered a variety of session topics including student supervision, supervisor responsibilities, ethical considerations, documentation trends for students and educators, evidence-based research, as well as the scope, curriculum design, mission and philosophy of the Kent State programs in which the educators will be supervising students.
Presenters included Katie Sutton, clinical coordinator for the PTA program at Kent East Liverpool; Diane Burke, former full-time faculty member for the PTA program at Kent East Liverpool and Ashtabula; Kathy Swoboda, associate lecturer in the OTA program at Kent East Liverpool; Nina Sullivan, academic fieldwork coordinator for the OTA program; and Susan Weaver, librarian and adjunct faculty member for the Kent State Columbiana County campuses.