MPT Vancouver students are required to complete some of their clinical education outside of the Metro Vancouver area. Students are able to rank preferred choices in a selection round, though there is no guarantee of a match and students may be required to complete a placement in a location that was not on their ranked list. The department can consider extenuating circumstances (for instance, if a student has a dependent child enrolled in school). Such circumstances will be considered as much as possible, alongside considerations around remaining unfulfilled requirements for placement types and treatment experience.
Placement categories are dependent upon the types of learning experiences that a student encounters while on placement. When a placement experience can fulfill more than one practice setting (e.g. 3 days a week in acute care and 2 days a week in outpatients), then the majority of placement time will dictate the category. Students may request a review of their placement category if they believe that their actual clinical learning does not match the assigned category.
Distributed students are required to complete 3 of their 5 placements in their cohort regions. The other two can be anywhere, including the Lower Mainland. Note that placement locations will depend on a student's remaining program requirements for various clinical settings and on the availability of various placement types.
Students can complete a maximum of two placements coded "ambulatory/private" private (all private practice placements fit here) throughout the MPT program, and a maximum of two pediatric placements (public and/or private). This will depend on availability and so some students will likely not complete two of either.
When a vehicle is required for a placement, the placement site or the MPT admin team can set an alert in HSPnet that students will see as a red bell icon beside the green exclamation mark. Home Health is usually the only placement where students require a vehicle. Other placements that involve travel between sites may offer students a choice between traveling together with their clinical instructors or using their own car. If students are using their own vehicle for home visits, additional funding may be available to support these mileage and parking costs.
The department is responsible for assigning placements to students. Although every effort is made to match students to preferred options, the department's priority is ensuring that all students complete all remaining program requirements. Given the available placement options, this priority often takes precedence. Students can expect to be unmatched with their indicated placement preferences at least once, often many times, through the duration of the program. When unmatched, the department will seek an alternative in the preferred geographic location. Note that the potential for a match to a preferred placement is increased when fewer students selected the same placement as a preference.
The majority of academic course work will fall outside of placement blocks. Placements involve intensive learning and require significant effort and reflection. Students will not have time for taking on other commitments (e.g. jobs, volunteering, non-MPT courses, etc.).
Conflicts of interest may arise: if a student has been treated at a site or by a clinical educator before; if a student is related to, has been employed by, or has volunteered for a site or someone working or being treated at a site; or has treated a client in the past. There may be other situations where conflicts of interest arise. It is best to contact the department (pt.placement@ubc.ca) with the details of any potential conflict of interest as soon as you are able.
HSPnet is an online platform used to coordinate placements with clinical sites, and to submit evaluations of those placements. The Student Practice Education Core Orientation (SPECO) is a BC Health Authority requirement which includes a checklist of items that need to be completed prior to any clinical practice experience. The Health Authority required modules are completed in the Learning Hub, an online e-learning platform. Some of these modules are listed in the SPECO checklist. Confirmation of completed items on the SPECO checklist should be submitted to the program by submitting PDF copies to Canvas ‘assignments’.
At present, the Faculty of Medicine is not allowing students to travel for international placements. Students may apply for out of catchment placements (outside of BC or Yukon) during Level 2B or Level 3. Students will be required to complete an application process and may need to pay an application fee to the university whose catchment they are requesting. See the Clinical Education Manual for more information. Students who are interested in this option are asked to email pt.educators@ubc.ca.