Monday, September 3, 2007
Expectations
One thing that has become very apparent to me this year is the importance of establishing with your supervisor early in the clinical placement what their expectations are of you. I am currently 2 weeks into my gerontology prac. For the first week I wasn’t given a very big workload and was left to do my own thing quite a lot, but I put it down to my supervisor sussing me out to decide if I could handle a bigger workload and that I would be safe with patients. I was quite unsure of what expectations she had of me for this first week, so I bought this up with my curtin clinical tutor on the Friday thinking the 2nd week would be better. After watching one assessment early in the first week, I was left to do my own thing all week (ie assess and treat some patients). At the end of the week my supervisor sat my down and basically ripped me apart with regards to what I had been doing… however I’d had NO feedback throughout the week and had no idea what was expected of me, so it all seemed to come out of the blue. Anyway, being the professional that I am I took everything that she said on board and went into the second week thinking all would be rosy. However, last week was almost exactly the same as the first! I still have absolutely no idea what my supervisor expects or wants from me… and everytime I ask a questions she looks at me like I am the biggest idiot to ever walk through the door. Its driving me bonkers!! Anyway I think I have the place and my supervisor sussed out now (ie how they like things done) so I’m sure things will pick up this week and next week… but I can’t help feeling that if my supervisor had sat me down at the beginning of the prac and gone through everything she expected me to be able to do ie. By the end of the first week, second week, end of prac… at least I would have known the standard I’d need to be at, and wouldn’t have had to feel my way through things for the first 2 weeks!! Has anyone else had a similar situation? Do you think I would be better off at the start of a prac asking the supervisor directly what her/his expectations are of me? All of my other supervisors have been very very clear on this from the get go, so it if frustrating to be somewhere that doesn’t seem to have any guidelines or expectations.
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3 comments:
I have been in a simialar situation. Not to the same extent as yourself but nevertheless simialr.
What i took away from the situation, was that it IS better to sit down at the start and make it clear what their and your expectations are from each other. Otherwisw how are you supposed to know. It also works in reverse because you may be expecting more from your supervisor then they realise.
Most supervisors I have had have done this automatically at the start of the placement; however if they don't I believe its's up to us to initiate the discussion.
Hope things are better for you in the next couple of weeks!
You are right - setting up expectations at the beginning of the placement is the best strategy. If the supervisor is not proactive to do this - you may need to do this from your side and that will show up as you taking initiative.
I had this problem in a prac earlier. But I took whatever the supervisor said and put it into practice.
Don't take the pointers at the mid-placement assessment as criticism. Take it as pointers for you to grow more in the placement. Not only will you appreciate it, your supervisor will too.
Easier said than done.
But you will get there.
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