This section covers two important ways you can ensure that you are prepared to learn and make a great impression during your practice education placement.

Once you have completed all the practice education requirements and assignments in the SPECO CCLO: Student Practice Education Core Orientation, had your formal request for placement accepted by a health authority, and are registered for the CCLO-3410 course, you are ready to start preparing for your placement. Remember, your placement can be thought of as a 30 day job interview, your level of preparation will determine how successful you are in your placement.

IMPORTANT

Community care facility licensing in BC is a small community and the impressions that you make on the staff you are working with in the health authority will make a difference for you when you start applying for jobs. People will remember that you were well prepared for your placement both in terms of understanding the work and also understanding yourself. JIBC recommends that you spend a minimum of 30 hours preparing for your placement through self-reflection and review of content.

Self-Reflection

Engaging in structured self-reflection will allow you to explore your thoughts, feelings, emotions, and actions and help develop interest, curiosity, and personal learning goals for your placement in the health authority. You are encouraged to reflect on the following questions to ensure you have a productive practice education experience:

  • What are my goals for the practice education placement?
  • What do I hope to learn during practice education?
  • What have I learned from my journey so far, and where do I want to go?
  • What do I feel are my areas of strength/weakness?
    • With this last piece of self-reflection you can focus on: material in the CCLO program; experience in various care environments; and, soft skills including professional verbal and written communication, report writing, critical thinking, time management, and decision making.

Review Content Covered in CCLO Courses

The most important things that you can do to prepare for your placement are:

  • Review the relevant acts and regulations related to community care licensing for both child and adult care. While you do not need to have these memorised word-for-word, you should have a good general understanding and know where you can find topics relevant to various areas of licensing, especially those areas related to inspections and applications. Coming in with a solid knowledge based of these fundamental documents will demonstrate that you know the material and impress the staff you are working with in the health authority. Documents can be found on the Ministry of Health website.
  • Review your course materials. It is important that you have a solid understanding of administrative law and the inspections and investigations processes.
  • Review public material related to licensing on other government websites. You should have a solid understanding of all documents that are provided to the public.
  • Review what is happening in the health authority that you will be placed, especially what is related to licensing. You might review news stories, updates from the health authority, information on the demographics and populations in the region. Spend some time searching local government and local news media websites, and use search engines to find other information.