How do I Prepare for Project-Based Placements?

Often Practice Educators are unsure what could be a suitable project for a placement, and ask:

• How do I come up with a project?
• What is allowed to be a project?

A good way to think about project placements is - what needs done?

Is there a piece of work that would be helpful to your team or service that has been suggested but not yet done?

Examples could include:

• literature review on an area of practice and recommendations from the evidence base
• evaluation or comparison of intervention models
• service audits - analysis of service data or processes to suggest improvements
• development, delivery or evaluation of an individual or group programme
• development, delivery or evaluation of a resource kit, education package or handout for service users
• audit, redesign or development of student induction materials for the service
• design/launch of a social media campaign
• blog/vlog of what to expect on placement/placement experiences
• carrying out a small test of change in the service
• capturing student perspective or student voices

As a practice educator, if you or your team need help coming up with project ideas, reach out to your local university for suggestions and support. University colleagues have experience of project-based placements and will be able to help you think about possible project topics, the level of student a project would be suited to, and how an opportunity may be adapted to facilitate learning.

You may be able to identify a few ideas for potential projects/a bank of project ideas within your team and discuss with students prior to their placement which they would be most interested in, or which would best meet their learning outcomes. It may be possible to develop project ideas with students, however if timeframes do not allow adequate planning and development time for this the project focus can be allocated by the practice educator.

When designing a project, be realistic about the time available to students – will this project be several days a week, one day or one morning per week? A project should be able to be completed within the time available. There may be opportunities identified for future students to build on or continue project work.

Once you have the idea, prepare a brief project proposal ahead of time. This doesn’t need to be very detailed but should give the context of the project, expected outcomes/outputs and outline the time available. This can be amended/refined in collaboration with the student(s) on arrival.
A template for this proposal can be found here.

Planning a Project-based Placement

If the placement is a full-time project-based placement, the Practice Educator has the same responsibilities as with any other placement. This includes pre-placement visit or discussion, induction, regular formal and informal supervision, provision of a timetable, supporting teaching and relevant experiences, mid-way and final assessment and evaluation of the placement.  

If a project is part of a wider placement, the project element will need to be planned to ensure the task set is realistic and that sufficient supervision can be provided alongside the other elements of the placement.

In addition to preparation required for any placement, for a project placement you will also need to:

• Signpost students to any relevant preparatory work for the project – e.g. e-learning, reading materials.
• Create a timetable outlining the time available for the project and rough expected milestones, particularly if the project is to be completed by a group of students – ensuring sufficient time to work together. An example timetable can be found here
• Schedule in time for evaluation and feedback of the project along the way and plan how students can access support when they need it. Practice Educator(s) should meet with them at least weekly to support the project work. Planning should include time for the student learner to reflect on their project, including successes, areas for development and lessons learned.
• Share Project Management and Quality Improvement resources and tools with the student, which can be found in the  NHS Education for Scotland Quality Improvement Zone. These tools can support student learners to structure and plan their project.
• Identify how the project will meet necessary learning outcomes, and which pillars of practice the placement will support.

Typically once project placements have been planned and carried out in a department or service, it is easier to replicate in future and planning workload is reduced for future project placements.

Universities prepare students for a range of placement models, but some students may not have strong awareness of project placements or may be unsure about their relevance to clinical work. When planning the placement and carrying out induction, encourage flexible thinking about learning outcomes and reassure students that placement is for learning a broad range of skills across the pillars of practice. As long as students can demonstrate meeting university learning outcomes, they do not need to support a clinical caseload in every placement.

If the project placement is also a Peer-Assisted Learning or Long Arm Supervision placement, please see the guidance pages for each model of placement for additional advice.