Faculty and instructors are employees of educational institutions who instruct and supervise students during the practice education experience.

All placements must be coordinated by the educational institution placing coordinator. Please direct all inquiries to the student practice team at student.placement@fraserhealth.ca. Do not contact the practice setting or a Fraser Health employee directly.

Learn more about the placement process.

Practice Education Guidelines for B.C. are used to guide the roles and responsibilities of faculty, instructors, students and the health organization employees during the practice education experience. It is your responsibility to be familiar these guidelines (e.g., placement process, practice issues, negative behaviours in the workplace, etc.).

• Complete the required orientation for both faculty and students prior to placement.
• Schedule your local practice setting orientation listed in the HSPnet destination profile through the destination coordinator. See orientation page for local practice setting orientation checklist.
• Set up your LearningHub account to access online training modules.
• Activate your Windows user account and email. Please do this prior to arriving so you can access necessary policies and guidelines. Make sure you store your user account information for subsequent placements as you will not receive a new Windows user account.
• Check your Fraser Health email regularly for updates and news related to your placement
• Instructors can email LMCparking@fraserhealth.ca to arrange for student, faculty and instructor parking. See orientation page for details.
• Orientation programs for acute care, long term care and home health practice settings are available for faculty and instructors. Email student.placement@fraserhealth.ca to arrange.
• Ensure students have completed all the required orientation.

• Facilitate local practice setting orientation for students (as applicable).
• Make sure you have your school faculty photo I.D. visible at all times.
• Dress code varies by practice setting and profession. Please refer to the Professional Image policy and local practice setting guidelines.
• If you require a room for debriefing, contact the destination coordinator at the location.

Contact the student practice team at student.placement@fraserhealth.ca.

Learn more about the placement process.

Practice Education Guidelines for B.C. are used to direct the roles and responsibilities of faculty, instructors, students and the health organization employees during the practice education experience. It is your responsibility to be familiar with these guidelines (e.g., placement process, practice issues, orientation, immunizations, supervision by staff, adverse events, negative behaviours in the workplace, etc).

To support students in their learning, faculty and administrators must be aware of the following policies

• Student Practice Policy
• Documentation
• Hand Hygiene
• Confidentiality and Security of Personal Information
• Electronic Communications
• Professional Image
• Conflict of Interest
• Respectful Workplace
• Safe Handling of Patients, Residents, and clients
• Respiratory Protection
• Scented products
• Influenza Policy
• Research – Intellectual Property
• Patient and Family Gifts
• Media Relations

Review orientation requirements and arrange for unit/practice setting specific orientation.

As educational institutions are held to the same standards of worker protection legislation as Fraser Health, liability for instructor, faculty and student safety during practice experiences lie with the educational institution and WorkSafeBC standards must be met. This includes the appropriate screening of any privately contracted vendors who provide screening or testing of instructor, faculty or students to ensure that legislated guidelines are followed. While Fraser Health strives to maintain safe work and learning environments there is associated risk to students, faculty and instructors by virtue of being a health care organization.

Educational institutions frequently inquire whether students may be excluded from various WorkSafeBC requirements to participate in practice experiences in Fraser Health. Some examples of these situations may be:

• Students unable to be fit-tested due to religious facial hair.
• Students unable to complete the required immunization schedules.

Fraser Health will work with the educational institution to support them in the decision making process for student practice experiences when situations outside of regular practice arise, however, the educational institution maintains the liability in protecting instructor/faculty and students while in Fraser Health practice settings. Roles and responsibilities are further outlined in the Practice Education Guidelines. For support in any unusual circumstances, please contact the Student Practice team at student.placement@fraserhealth.ca with “Student exclusions for WorkSafe” in the subject line.

Fraser Health will work with the educational institution to support students with disabilities in achieving practice experiences. The burden of additional costs for additional supports, equipment or interpreters will be carried by the educational institution or the student. Please contact the student practice team at student.placement@fraserhealth.ca with “Student disability support need” in the subject line.

Private Training Act (PTA) governs all private post-secondary training in B.C. with greater than 40 curricular hours and greater than $4,000 tuition fees. PTA legislation came into effect on September 1, 2017. Changes in the regulatory structure allow this agency to have statutory decision making powers to decide which educational institutions can be opened. Visit the Private Training Institutions Branch website for requirements.

Contact the student practice team at student.placement@fraserhealth.ca.

A placing coordinator (also known as practice placement coordinators) is an employee at the educational institution who is responsible for coordinating, planning and communicating student placements.

There are three named roles for facilitating student practice education: placing coordinator (educational institution), receiving coordinator (clinical education coordinator), and destination coordinator (site/location specific designate for a given practice area).

The placing coordinator is responsible to:

• Ensure an affiliation agreement (and listed program) exists with Fraser Health.
• Establish and maintains educational institution programs, courses, and data in HSPnet.
• Submit and monitors student practice education experience via HSPnet including the review of any conditions applied to placement requests occur in a timely manner. Submits one request for each student practice experience.
• Include required student and instructor information for each request (i.e., start and end date, type of experience [group, non-group, and observation], legal student name, and student educational institution email, faculty name, etc.).  Additional information may also be included such as student resumes, course handouts, field guides, evaluation forms, and so forth.
• Submit students’ educational institution email addresses to HSPnet at least eight weeks prior to placement start date. This is required to set-up user access to Fraser Health computers.
• Confirm accepted placements, releases student names, and cancels unused requests on HSPnet a minimum of six weeks prior to start date.
• Act as the point of contact to communicate with receiving destination/agency.
• Distribute health authority communication to educational institution stakeholders.
• Ensure orientation requirements for student and faculty are met.  

• Make sure an affiliation agreement is in place with the school before accepting a request.
• Review destination profiles for local practice setting descriptions, placement capacity and any specific requirements or orientation (e.g., resume, courses or typing speed requirement) as they may change. Contact the practice area for clarification or additional information if required (direct e-mail addresses provided in HSPnet).
• Educational institutions are never permitted to enter acceptance of a request on behalf of Fraser Health in HSPnet. Acceptance in HSPnet is logged and provides confirmation that Fraser Health has reviewed the request as entered in HSPnet. This is the legal agreement that goes with the affiliation agreement.
• Submit student placement requests in HSPnet a minimum of eight weeks prior to the placement start date.  To avoid placement delays ensure the following pertinent details are included:
  • Student’s correct information including their first and last name as well as the education issued email address.
  • Instructor’s first and last name, contact information including their education email address.
  • Type of placement (e.g., preceptorship/fieldwork,  group, observation, split). Split request when the student will spend time in more than one destination.
  • Actual start and end date of placement; include shift schedule and duration of hours.
  • Select site, service, destination and discipline using the HSPnet glossary of terms for accuracy.
  • Include a reasonable reply by date (greater than 2 weeks)
• Review placement requests regularly for conditions that may be placed on the request.
  • Conditions usually indicate pertinent information is missing or the request does not accurately reflect the placement; these requests are not redirected to our destination coordinators until the condition is met. Note: If the condition is met, you will need to clear the checkbox which will signal our receiving coordinators to review the request again.
• Enter data and notes into HSPnet as needed.

• Review policies
  • Student Practice Policy
  • Documentation
  • Hand Hygiene
  • Confidentiality and Security of Personal Information
  • Electronic Communications
  • Professional Image
  • Conflict of Interest
  • Respectful Workplace
  • Safe Handling of Patients, Residents, and clients
  • Respiratory Protection
  • Scented products
  • Influenza Policy
  • Research – Intellectual Property
  • Patient and Family Gifts
  • Media Relations
• Review orientation requirements and arrange for unit/practice setting specific orientation.
• Review the British Columbia Student Practice Education Guidelines.

It is important to foster a learning environment in which students feel safe, relaxed, and willing to take risks. Here are some ways to create a supportive learning environment for your students:

The practice setting can play an important role in helping students build knowledge, apply skills, develop caring attitudes, be socialized into the profession, and create contacts for future employment. 

• Start out by working together to provide care and orient the student to the practice setting.
• Make them feel welcomed and a part of the team. Help students get acquainted with all members of the health care team.
• Provide students with opportunities to share about their backgrounds and cultures.
• Seek to connect students with a variety of learning opportunities to foster their preparation to move from the student to professional role. Provide a range of experiences provided, relevant to the students skills and level of learning.

Students’ determination and belief that they can achieve their goals are important factors in their persistence in ongoing learning and transition to the professional role. 

• Ensure that students experience success on their first day of the practicum so the first experience is a positive one. Ensure the students are respected and feel they are valued and part of the team.
• Be patient. Patience is an extremely important characteristic for any preceptor/mentor. Individuals can often take a longer time in the learning process because of various learning styles, but this does not mean they aren’t motivated to learn.
• Accept your student as he/she is and respect his/her values even if they differ from yours.
• Believe in your student and he/she will begin to believe in him/herself.
• Know your student’s name and use it frequently. Introduce them to patients and members of the health care team.
• Provide ongoing feedback to identify strengths as well as areas for improvement or shortcomings.
• Support students to identify their learning needs and experiences that are appropriate to their level of learning.
• To meet defined learning needs, use a range of learning experiences, involving patients, clients, health care providers and members of the inter-professional team,.
• Identify aspects of the learning environment which could be enhanced, negotiating with others to make appropriate changes.
• Act as a resource to facilitate the personal and professional development of others. 

Non-verbal messages are an essential component of communication in the learning process. It is not only what you say to your student that is important but also how you say it. An awareness of non-verbal behaviour will allow you to become a better receiver of students’ messages and a better sender of signals that reinforce learning. 

Some areas of non-verbal behaviours to explore include:

• Eye contact: Those who make eye contact open the flow of communication and convey interest, concern, warmth and credibility.
• Facial expressions: Smiling is a great way to communicate friendliness and warmth to students.
• Gestures: A lively and animated teaching style captures students’ attention, makes the material more interesting, and facilitates learning. Head nods also communicate positive reinforcement to students and indicate that you are listening.
• Posture and body orientation: Standing erect, but not rigid, and leaning slightly forward communicates to students that you are approachable, receptive and friendly. Speaking with your back turned or looking at the floor or ceiling should be avoided, as it communicates disinterest.
• Proximity: Cultural norms dictate a comfortable distance for interaction with students. Look for signals of discomfort caused by invading students’ space, which include rocking, leg swinging, crossed arms, tapping and gaze aversion.
• Paralinguistics: Tone, pitch, rhythm, timbre, loudness and inflection in the way you speak should be varied for maximum effectiveness. Students report that they learn less and lose interest more quickly when listening to teachers who have not learned to modulate their voices.
• Humour: Develop the ability to laugh at yourself and encourage students to do the same. Humour is often overlooked as a teaching tool.  It can release stress and tension for both health care provider and student and foster a friendly classroom environment that facilitates learning.

Motivation is a key factor in student success.

• Involve students as active participants in learning. Students learn by doing, making, planning, creating and solving. Pose questions. Don’t tell students something when you can ask them.
• Be enthusiastic about what you are teaching. An individual’s enthusiasm is a crucial factor in student motivation. If you become bored or apathetic, students will too.
• Work from students’ strengths and interests.
• When possible, let students have some say in choosing component of their assignment during the placement.
• Vary your teaching methods (e.g., debates, brainstorming, discussion, demonstrations, case studies, online courses). Variety reawakens students’ involvement and motivation.
• Relate new tasks to those students already know.

Contact the student practice team at student.placement@fraserhealth.ca.

For assistance with HSPnet and troubleshooting, contact HSPnet Support directly at support@hspcanada.net.

A destination coordinator is a health authority employee designated to coordinate student placements for a unit/location, department or specified discipline on HSPnet.

Step 1. Set-up your Health Science Placement Network (HSPnet) profile with the student practice team at student.placement@fraserhealth.ca.

Step 2. Complete HSPnet Mandatory New User Orientation online training. Student placement team will provide additional information to complete.

Step 3. Connect with Student Practice for further education details.

Step 4.  Review student-related policies

• Affiliation Agreement
• Student Practice Policy 
• Job Shadow

There are three named roles for facilitating student practice education: placing coordinator (educational institution), receiving coordinator (clinical education coordinator), and destination coordinator (site/location specific designate for a given department/practice area).

The destination coordinator (or designate) is responsible to:

• Complete HSPnet Mandatory New User Orientation and the Orientation to the HSPnet Destination Coordinator Role.
• Ensure that there is an affiliation agreement (and listed program) in place prior to considering any student request.
• Provide destination profile and capacity updates for HSPnet assigned practice areas a minimum of three times per year to the student practice team at student.placement@fraserhealth.ca who changes the profile.
• Accept or decline student practice education requests within 14 days of submission in HSPnet.
• Inform receiving coordinators and backup destination coordinator of any absences greater than 14 days.
• Enter name and contact information of health authority staff that will support a 1:1 student practice experience (e.g., preceptor, 1:1 or field guide) in HSPnet for the educational institution at least two weeks prior to the start date.
• Consider all requests for student practice education using the decision making process in 1.1 HSPnet Placement Process guideline.
• Support educational institution instructors and faculty in specific orientation to the practice setting.
• Inform Professional Practice of unresolved student practice issues or educational institution concerns.
• Inquire with educational institution faculty and instructor regarding completion of orientation pre-requisites.
• Ensure that students, faculty and instructors have access to all safety equipment (i.e., panic alarms and respirator mask types). 

• Make sure an affiliation agreement is in place with the school before accepting a request.
• Contact the school for clarification or additional information if required (direct e-mail links provided in HSPnet).
• Assess the overall unit/location/program capacity for students.
• Respond in a timely manner to student placement requests (accept or decline) by the reply by dates provided.
  • Placing agencies cannot seek alternate placements until you respond on HSPnet to their original request.
  • Never permit an educational institution to enter acceptance of a request on your behalf in HSPnet. Your acceptance in HSPnet is logged and provides confirmation you have reviewed the request as entered in HSPnet. This is the legal agreement that goes with the affiliation agreement.
• For non-group requests, identify available, qualified staff to mentor student.
  • Enter staff preceptor name and Fraser Health contact information into HSPnet database (if not already there). Save name to specific placement request so students can connect with their preceptor to discuss their schedule.
  • Encourage mentors to take Level 1 Foundational Mentorship and Level 1 Advanced Mentorship workshops.
  • Optional: upload preceptor schedule into HSPnet.
• Enter data and notes into HSPnet as needed.

• Review policies  
  • Student Practice Policy
  • Documentation
  • Hand Hygiene
  • Confidentiality and Security of Personal Information
  • Electronic Communications
  • Professional Image
  • Conflict of Interest
  • Respectful Workplace
  • Safe Handling of Patients, Residents, and clients
  • Respiratory Protection
  • Scented products
  • Influenza Policy
  • Research – Intellectual Property
  • Patient and Family Gifts
  • Media Relations
• Review orientation requirements and arrange for unit/practice setting specific orientation
• Review the British Columbia Student Practice Education Guidelines
• Set-up Windows user and email accounts. Destination coordinators will receive an email for each student in each placement accepted. See sample email. Unit-based preceptor or educators will provide access to local shared network drive.

• Be the point of contact for all placement requests at your location for your assigned disciplines (e.g., arrange faculty orientation, answer questions regarding the work area, clarify concerns, discuss student concerns, or discuss staff issues with students). Refer to our Student Practice Issues guideline should an issue arise.
• Review destination profile every four months and notify student.placement@fraserhealth.ca of any significant changes in the practice area and the student placement team will update the destination profile for you.
• Identify and e-mail the name of your back up or alternative destination coordinator for extended absences (greater than 2 weeks), or if you are leaving your position please notify the student practice team at student.placement@fraserhealth.ca. HSPnet user IDs may not be shared. A new account for your back up/replacement will be created in a timely manner.

It is important to foster a learning environment in which students feel safe, relaxed, and willing to take risks. Here are some ways to create a supportive learning environment for your students:

The practice setting can play an important role in helping students build knowledge, apply skills, develop caring attitudes, be socialized into the profession, and create contacts for future employment. 

• Start out by working together to provide care and orient the student to the practice setting.
• Make them feel welcomed and a part of the team. Help students get acquainted with all members of the health care team.
• Provide students with opportunities to share about their backgrounds and cultures.
• Seek to connect students with a variety of learning opportunities to foster their preparation to move from the student to professional role. Provide a range of experiences provided, relevant to the students skills and level of learning.

Students’ determination and belief that they can achieve their goals are important factors in their persistence in ongoing learning and transition to the professional role. 

• Ensure that students experience success on their first day of the practicum so the first experience is a positive one. Ensure the students are respected and feel they are valued and part of the team.
• Be patient. Patience is an extremely important characteristic for any preceptor/mentor. Individuals can often take a longer time in the learning process because of various learning styles, but this does not mean they aren’t motivated to learn.
• Accept your student as he/she is and respect his/her values even if they differ from yours.
• Believe in your student and he/she will begin to believe in him/herself.
• Know your student’s name and use it frequently. Introduce them to patients and members of the health care team.
• Provide ongoing feedback to identify strengths as well as areas for improvement or shortcomings.
• Support students to identify their learning needs and experiences that are appropriate to their level of learning.
• To meet defined learning needs, use a range of learning experiences, involving patients, clients, health care providers and members of the inter-professional team,.
• Identify aspects of the learning environment which could be enhanced, negotiating with others to make appropriate changes.
• Act as a resource to facilitate the personal and professional development of others. 

Non-verbal messages are an essential component of communication in the learning process. It is not only what you say to your student that is important but also how you say it. An awareness of non-verbal behaviour will allow you to become a better receiver of students’ messages and a better sender of signals that reinforce learning. 

Some areas of non-verbal behaviours to explore include:

• Eye contact: Those who make eye contact open the flow of communication and convey interest, concern, warmth and credibility.
• Facial expressions: Smiling is a great way to communicate friendliness and warmth to students.
• Gestures: A lively and animated teaching style captures students’ attention, makes the material more interesting, and facilitates learning. Head nods also communicate positive reinforcement to students and indicate that you are listening.
• Posture and body orientation: Standing erect, but not rigid, and leaning slightly forward communicates to students that you are approachable, receptive and friendly. Speaking with your back turned or looking at the floor or ceiling should be avoided, as it communicates disinterest.
• Proximity: Cultural norms dictate a comfortable distance for interaction with students. Look for signals of discomfort caused by invading students’ space, which include rocking, leg swinging, crossed arms, tapping and gaze aversion.
• Paralinguistics: Tone, pitch, rhythm, timbre, loudness and inflection in the way you speak should be varied for maximum effectiveness. Students report that they learn less and lose interest more quickly when listening to teachers who have not learned to modulate their voices.
• Humour: Develop the ability to laugh at yourself and encourage students to do the same. Humour is often overlooked as a teaching tool.  It can release stress and tension for both health care provider and student and foster a friendly classroom environment that facilitates learning.

Motivation is a key factor in student success.

• Involve students as active participants in learning. Students learn by doing, making, planning, creating and solving. Pose questions. Don’t tell students something when you can ask them.
• Be enthusiastic about what you are teaching. An individual’s enthusiasm is a crucial factor in student motivation. If you become bored or apathetic, students will too.
• Work from students’ strengths and interests.
• When possible, let students have some say in choosing component of their assignment during the placement.
• Vary your teaching methods (e.g., debates, brainstorming, discussion, demonstrations, case studies, online courses). Variety reawakens students’ involvement and motivation.
• Relate new tasks to those students already know.

Contact the student practice team at student.placement@fraserhealth.ca.

For assistance with HSPnet and troubleshooting, contact HSPnet Support directly at support@hspcanada.net.

A receiving coordinator is a Fraser Health employee in the Professional Practice department who:

• provides local administration of HSPnet
• receives incoming requests directly from the educational institution
• redirects requests to the destinations specified
• provides troubleshooting and support to HSPnet users

There are three named roles for facilitating student practice education: placing coordinator (educational institution), receiving coordinator (Clinical Education Coordinator), and destination coordinator (site/location specific designate for a given department/practice area). 

The receiving coordinator is responsible to: 

• Ensure an affiliation agreement exists with educational institution (and listed program) prior to redirecting requests.
• Redirect HSPnet requests that match the destination profile within two business days.
• Attach a condition to requests that do not match existing destination profiles or when the request is not entered correctly in HSPnet.
• Initiate process to issue guest link account for HSPnet access for educational institutions/programs.
• Maintain the HSPnet database, which includes destination coordinator, preceptor and manager user access, and destination profiles.
• Send regular communications to destination coordinators to update profiles and capacities at least twice a year.
• Provide destination coordinators with student placement process orientation and ongoing mentorship for student placements. 
• Maintain signed confidentiality acknowledgements from students and educational institution educators.
  Facilitate student access to Fraser Health information technology and electronic documentation.

• Make sure an affiliation agreement is in place with the school before accepting a request.
• Issue HSPnet guest links to non-HSPnet account holders when necessary.
• Review all student placement requests for Fraser Health Authority for appropriateness
• Place conditions on placement requests for further clarification or additional information if required.
• Assess the overall unit/location/program capacity for students.
• Forward student placement requests to destination coordinators in a timely manner.
• Enter data and notes into HSPnet as needed.

• Advise students, faculty and employees about policies related to student practice (must be logged onto the Fraser Health network).
• Advise students, faculty and employees about orientation requirements.
• Advise students, faculty and employees about the British Columbia Student Practice Education Guidelines.
• Supports the set-up of Windows user and email accounts and other IT program user accounts and education. Unit-based preceptor or educators will provide access to local shared network drives.

• Act as the point of contact for all placement requests in Fraser Health. Refer to the Student Practice Issues guidelines should an issue arise.
• Update destination profiles when notified of changes and with each contact with destination coordinators.
• Notify education institutions of any significant changes in the placement area destination profiles.

The following resources may assist you to support student development with exceptional clinical practice experiences. The educational institution for which you are acting as a preceptor/field guide is responsible to outline your roles and responsibilities regarding student supervision and evaluation.

• To prepare yourself for the mentor role, complete the Level 1 Foundational Mentorship and Level 1 Advanced Mentorship courses. Course registration details available on FH Pulse. Professional Practice can provide reimbursement to you manager for the Foundational Mentorship course.  
• Use the competency assessment tool to identify your proficiency as a mentor or preceptor.
• Additional free resources include:
  
  • E-tips for practice education online module
  • The University of Western Ontario: Preceptor Education Program (PEP), includes seven modules for preceptors. 
  • Canadian Nurses Association: Achieving excellence in professional practice: A guide to preceptorship and mentorship
  • Vancouver Coastal Health: Supporting learning in practice: Preceptors, clinicians and field supervisors. Includes reminders, practical tips and ideas to help make the preceptorship experience a positive one for both preceptor and preceptee. 

• Review orientation requirements for students.
• Provide the student with specific orientation information for your practice setting and profession
• Ensure that your employee required courses are up to date (e.g., code red, WHMIS, Fit Testing  etc.)

The British Columbia Practice Education Guidelines are used to guide the roles and responsibilities of faculty/instructors, students and the health organization employees during the practice education experience. It is your responsibility to be familiar these guidelines (e.g., placement process, practice issues, supervision, negative behaviours in the workplace, etc).

Specific student-related policies include:

• Affiliation Agreement
• Student Practice Policy 
• Job Shadow

While hosting students, those supporting students need to abide by the following policies

• Student Practice Policy
• Documentation
• Hand Hygiene
• Confidentiality and Security of Personal Information
• Electronic Communications
• Professional Image
• Conflict of Interest
• Respectful Workplace
• Safe Handling of Patients, Residents, and clients
• Respiratory Protection
• Scented products
• Influenza Policy
• Research – Intellectual Property
• Patient and Family Gifts
• Media Relations

• Both faculty and students must complete the required orientation.
• A practice setting orientation is scheduled through the destination coordinator. HSPnet destination profiles should list orientation specific to the practice setting.
• Students and faculty are required to activate Windows user account and email.
• Orientation programs for acute care, long term care and home health practice settings are available for faculty and instructors.

• Students and faculty must keep school photo I.D. visible at all times.
• Follow dress code as per the Professional Image policy and local practice setting guidelines.
• Adhere to all policies and care standards.

It is important to foster a learning environment in which students feel safe, relaxed, and willing to take risks. Here are some ways to create a supportive learning environment for your students:

The practice setting can play an important role in helping students build knowledge, apply skills, develop caring attitudes, be socialized into the profession, and create contacts for future employment. 

• Start out by working together to provide care and orient the student to the practice setting.
• Make them feel welcomed and a part of the team. Help students get acquainted with all members of the health care team.
• Provide students with opportunities to share about their backgrounds and cultures.
• Seek to connect students with a variety of learning opportunities to foster their preparation to move from the student to professional role. Provide a range of experiences provided, relevant to the students skills and level of learning.

Students’ determination and belief that they can achieve their goals are important factors in their persistence in ongoing learning and transition to the professional role. 

• Ensure that students experience success on their first day of the practicum so the first experience is a positive one. Ensure the students are respected and feel they are valued and part of the team.
• Be patient. Patience is an extremely important characteristic for any preceptor/mentor. Individuals can often take a longer time in the learning process because of various learning styles, but this does not mean they aren’t motivated to learn.
• Accept your student as he/she is and respect his/her values even if they differ from yours.
• Believe in your student and he/she will begin to believe in him/herself.
• Know your student’s name and use it frequently. Introduce them to patients and members of the health care team.
• Provide ongoing feedback to identify strengths as well as areas for improvement or shortcomings.
• Support students to identify their learning needs and experiences that are appropriate to their level of learning.
• To meet defined learning needs, use a range of learning experiences, involving patients, clients, health care providers and members of the inter-professional team,.
• Identify aspects of the learning environment which could be enhanced, negotiating with others to make appropriate changes.
• Act as a resource to facilitate the personal and professional development of others. 

Non-verbal messages are an essential component of communication in the learning process. It is not only what you say to your student that is important but also how you say it. An awareness of non-verbal behaviour will allow you to become a better receiver of students’ messages and a better sender of signals that reinforce learning. 

Some areas of non-verbal behaviours to explore include:

• Eye contact: Those who make eye contact open the flow of communication and convey interest, concern, warmth and credibility.
• Facial expressions: Smiling is a great way to communicate friendliness and warmth to students.
• Gestures: A lively and animated teaching style captures students’ attention, makes the material more interesting, and facilitates learning. Head nods also communicate positive reinforcement to students and indicate that you are listening.
• Posture and body orientation: Standing erect, but not rigid, and leaning slightly forward communicates to students that you are approachable, receptive and friendly. Speaking with your back turned or looking at the floor or ceiling should be avoided, as it communicates disinterest.
• Proximity: Cultural norms dictate a comfortable distance for interaction with students. Look for signals of discomfort caused by invading students’ space, which include rocking, leg swinging, crossed arms, tapping and gaze aversion.
• Paralinguistics: Tone, pitch, rhythm, timbre, loudness and inflection in the way you speak should be varied for maximum effectiveness. Students report that they learn less and lose interest more quickly when listening to teachers who have not learned to modulate their voices.
• Humour: Develop the ability to laugh at yourself and encourage students to do the same. Humour is often overlooked as a teaching tool.  It can release stress and tension for both health care provider and student and foster a friendly classroom environment that facilitates learning.

Motivation is a key factor in student success.

• Involve students as active participants in learning. Students learn by doing, making, planning, creating and solving. Pose questions. Don’t tell students something when you can ask them.
• Be enthusiastic about what you are teaching. An individual’s enthusiasm is a crucial factor in student motivation. If you become bored or apathetic, students will too.
• Work from students’ strengths and interests.
• When possible, let students have some say in choosing component of their assignment during the placement.
• Vary your teaching methods (e.g., debates, brainstorming, discussion, demonstrations, case studies, online courses). Variety reawakens students’ involvement and motivation.
• Relate new tasks to those students already know.

Contact the student practice team at student.placement@fraserhealth.ca.