Year 2 Report
Written by: Brianna Kuchurean and Kristen Wong
Reporting to you a year later and our beds are still the most common office
accessory - I guess you can say classroom comfort at its finest! With the support our classmates, we have continued to learn about ourselves as future clinicians, lifelong learners, and forever friends.
We would like to send our greatest thanks to all the clinical educators who have offered their time and resources for us during the Unit 3 and 7 placements. It is in these times where our motivation was replenished and our love for the field flourished once again. Here’s what our class had to say about the top things they’ve learned through placement:
Always think of the bigger picture when it comes to dysphagia.
No matter where you are on your clinical journey, you can always learn something new.
In an in-patient rehab setting, it’s important to set goals for the patient that meet them where they’re at in the recovery process. While really specific goals might be helpful in out-patient, building insight into deficits and self-management strategies may be more valuable at this stage of recovery. In fact, it may be the focus of your treatment
The SLP field is filled with many specialties and is ever-growing!
The importance of practicing patient-centred care, creating functional goals and the necessity of implementing evidence-based practice!
The work we do is art based on science. How you deliver the same message differently for it to get across to the patients is the art that sets you apart.
Learning doesn’t stop once you leave the classroom. The world is full of information, and it is up to us to seek it out, critically evaluate it, and do our due diligence on finding the best information to guide our growth in the field.
Needless to say, life is full of the unexpected - and so was our experience in the SLP program. We have been surprised throughout the last year and a half, so here are some of the top things our class didn’t expect to learn throughout our time in the program:
A guide to exams: Step one - finish the exam. Step two - get on Discord. Step three - group therapy.
If SLP doesn’t work out for us, we can make a very strong trivia team…
After this program, you’ll never view owls as beautiful majestic creatures
Fred - everyone’s best friend!
Make sure to read carefully. It’s imperative that you carefully read. Did I mention you should read in a careful manner? Just remember to be careful as you read.
Even SLPs have a hard time describing what SLPs do sometimes. Throwback to the first IPE when all the SLP students were freaking out about talking to students from other professions because we knew we’d have to explain our role since no one really knows what SLPs do.
