Internship Guide

During the first week in clinic, the students need to identify 3 SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) for their internship. (For example, independently program devices for 4 persons at the initial hearing aid fitting.) You know the caseload and scope of practice at your clinic and, as such, are in the best position to inform the goals. Please set aside ~30 minutes to help your student define these goals. 

• The purpose of setting these goals is to focus the students’ attention and experience on a few areas and maximize their expertise in these areas. If the student accomplishes the goals before the end of the semester, you/they may set additional goals.

• Take some time to set expectations of the students – i.e., specify the steps needed in order for them to achieve the goals. (For example, for the above-stated goal, you may require the student to demonstrate they know how to connect the hearing aids to the software, pull up the patient record in Noah, initial-fit the hearing aids to a prescribed target, make adjustments to address specific complaints.)

The student's primary objective is to successfully achieve the specific skills as described by the goals submitted for this semester.

Secondarily, upon successful completion of this course, student will be able to …

    1) Describe and discuss clinical experiences in a professional manner,

    2) Construct a clinical report describing the background information, clinical findings, assessment and recommendations,

    3) Identify relationships between clinical experiences and didactic learning,

    4) Analyze clinical experiences from the perspective of evidence-based practice,

    5) Reflect on personal and professional attributes of audiology practice.

• On-going: It is best to give the students informal, constructive feedback as you go along. You will find that they are quite receptive to this and will seek it out often.

• End of internship: You will formally evaluate the student on specific skills and accomplishment of their goals for the semester (see SMART Goals above). You may also recommend a grade at this time, but that is optional. We will assign the final grade for the semester based on the information you provide.

• We include a mid-semester formative evaluation ("pulse-check") during the fall and spring internships.

• Please be sure to contact us immediately via e-mail/phone with any concerns or issues as they come up– we prefer to be as proactive as possible in addressing problems.

• It is most helpful for the students’ learning when you engage them throughout the day.

• Feel free to ask the students questions and/or give them assignments (e.g., write a report for a patient they saw at your office); they may or may not have answers, but it is not unreasonable to have them think, research, inquire and reflect.

• At this stage of their training, students are often unsure of their own skills and lack confidence. As you get comfortable with them, please feel free to provide constructive criticism and give them more opportunities for hands-on testing and decision making.

• My general guidance to the students is to not chat or ask questions while you’re with a patient. If you are comfortable with talking while you work, please let them know or initiate the conversation yourself.

• When communicating with students, please use their Pacific University e-mail addresses (___@pacificu.edu). Also, be sure to include a faculty member on any e-mail communications with the students.

• Please be mindful of the privacy laws governing educational info (FERPA), which are similar in intent to HIPAA. These are included on the last page of the contract.