Professional Behaviour

Students engage in fieldwork practice under the supervision of a registered occupational therapist. Expectations of student professional interactions, dress/attire and professional behaviours may be distinct in each organization. Students’ fieldwork learning experiences may put them in positions of power with clients and students must not take advantage of this position to advocate for their personal gain, values or beliefs. Although general guidelines are provided in this manual, norms may be unique in each program or organization. 

Regulatory Body and National Association Guidelines

Students will practice within the guidelines of the College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario and the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists. Students will adhere to the standards of ethical behaviour for the profession of occupational therapy and their professional activities will be characterized by honesty, integrity, conscientiousness and reliability. Relevant documents that guide our professional behaviour include: 

• CAOT Code of Ethics: Supports the achievement and maintenance of high standards of professional integrity toward clients, colleagues, partners, stakeholders, the public and CAOT. 

• Canadian Framework for Ethical Occupational Therapy Practice: A guide designed to assist occupational therapists to practise well in complex and often challenging workplace settings 

• COTO Code of Ethics, 2020: Outlines expectations for ethical occupational therapy practice within any OT practice context or domain. 

• With support from the occupational therapist preceptor, students are aiming to achieve COTO’s Standards of Practice. In particular, students and occupational therapists who take on fieldwork teaching adhere to the minimum expectations and parameters outlined in the Standards for the Supervision of Students and Occupational Therapy Assistants, 2023. 

• COTO’s Guidance: Use of Social Media: Student occupational therapists will use social media platforms professionally, securely, and responsibly. 

University Guidelines

Throughout the program, including while off-site at their fieldwork placement, students are required to follow the OT Student Code of Conduct and Guidelines.

The University of Toronto has additional documents that pertain to MScOT fieldwork education. Student occupational therapists are expected to adhere to all standards and requirements within these documents.   

Code of Student Conduct 

Professional Practice Behaviour for all Health Professional Students: The first paragraph of this document reads: “Health professional students engage in a variety of activities with patients/clients under supervision and as part of their academic programs. During this training, the University, training sites, and society more generally expect our health professional students to adhere to appropriate standards of behaviour and ethical values. All health profession students accept that their profession demands integrity, exemplary behaviour, dedication to the search for truth, and service to humanity in the pursuit of their education and the exercise of their profession.” 

Statement on Protection of Personal Health Information: Please note important points below: 

• Students must never store any confidential data on their own computers or storage devices unless they have been given permission from their preceptor and doing so does not violate privacy and confidentiality laws and organizational policies. This includes any patient/client files and also documentation templates. Documentation templates are the property of the organization and so permission must be obtained to save any templates or resources even if they are completely void of any patient information. 

• At no point should students be doing documentation at home or on their personal phones or computers. De-identification of personal information is very complex and even if the patient’s name, diagnosis, and identifier (e.g. hospital/medical record number) have been removed, the date of an assessment and the hospital unit may still be sources of identification. 

• If students are on a community placement and are transporting files, they must carefully follow organizational policy and law regarding paper and electronic patient files. The only safe way to transport patient information is for it to be both encrypted and password protected (on laptop or USB key). It is not enough just to password protect electronic patient files when transporting them on community visits. Paper files would have to be locked in a car trunk (never just left in a locked car on the seat) or kept with the student at all times. 

• Students are also reminded to never access the electronic or paper file of a client that is not on their caseload. 

• Breaches of privacy and confidentiality are grounds for severe academic penalties including possible dismissal from the MScOT program. 

Cell Phone and Electronic Devices

While at the fieldwork site, students will: 

• Turn off and store cell phones, unless instructed otherwise by their preceptor. In the case of an emergency, the student should request permission from his/her preceptor and/or clients to use the cell phone. Personal texting, messaging, or calling is not allowed during fieldwork hours unless otherwise instructed by the preceptor. 

• Other personal electronic devices are also not to be used during fieldwork placements without approval of the preceptor. 

• Hospital computers are to be used for fieldwork purposes only. Personal emails are discouraged during fieldwork time and only with approval of the preceptor. Social media sites should be used for educational or client-related purposes only. 

• All clinically related information, including information about clients, families, team members, and events that happen on placement are confidential and should not be shared beyond the circle of care. In order to protect and respect clients and our community partners, personal blogging or posting on social media of clinically related information is strictly prohibited.

Dress Code

Students, as members of a team, should project a professional image to clients, their families, team members and the general public, according to the workplace culture. This helps clients to relate to the student as a professional-in-training. Students are expected to comply with the dress code of the facility to which they are assigned with regard to professional image and safety concerns. Specific dress code information is available for each site through the Fieldwork Site Profile, available to students on InPlace when they have been assigned a placement at the site.

Attendance

Fieldwork hours are calculated based on a 37.5-hour work week (e.g. 8:30 to 4:30 p.m.). Hours that relate to practice simulation will be fewer than 37.5, and specific details will be provided for the applicable course and practice-centred sessions. Students are expected to attend all fieldwork practice hours in the program, including fieldwork-related simulations. CAOT Standards for OT Education state that in order to graduate from an accredited program in Occupational Therapy, each student must successfully complete a minimum of 1000 hours of fieldwork practice. Students will not ask for shortened workdays to accommodate personal needs unless they have official accommodations communicated to the fieldwork instructor from the University of Toronto Accessibility Services. All non-emergency doctor/dentist appointments, job commitments, or personal travel plans should be arranged to avoid conflicting with fieldwork placements.  

Conference Attendance 

Year 2 students are encouraged to submit abstracts/paper of their OCT1220Y research to relevant conferences, in collaboration with their supervisors.  

Procedure 

1. Students who are accepted to present at a conference may request consideration for missed fieldwork time and consideration of conference days counted as fieldwork days.  

2. Students should follow processes outlined by fieldwork instructors on provision of supporting documents, including proof of acceptance for conference presentation and proof of payment/conference registration. 

3. Approval to miss placement time for conference attendance is contingent upon a student’s past performance on fieldwork and current standing in their fieldwork course. 

4. After approval by the university fieldwork department, the student must inform his/her preceptor regarding missing fieldwork days to attend the conference. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that this absence does not interfere with meeting fieldwork course requirements 

5. It is the students’ responsibility to cover all upfront costs related to the conference, or to make other arrangements, such as receiving funding from their supervisors or through a travel award/grant.

Student Conference Attendance Without Presentation 

If students wish to attend a conference, workshop, or course (“event”) during fieldwork and are not giving a presentation, they must complete a Request for Special Considerations form and on that form, describe the conference/course and include the number of fieldwork days that would be missed. Each request will be reviewed by the Fieldwork Course Instructor and will be approved on an individual basis for the event’s ability to enhance clinical skills, the period of time missed (maximum 3 days), and student’s anticipated performance on placement. If attendance at the event is approved, a maximum of ½ of missed time will be considered as an education day which does not require to be made up, and the remaining time will be considered to be fieldwork absence(s). If there are concerns about the student’s performance and/or attendance at the event, they may be denied approval to attend.