Clinical Practicum Hours and Experience
Community clinical supervisors are a godsend for graduate programs. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) requires that clinicians obtain 375 direct contact hours in order to graduate. In order to have a well-rounded clinical experience, graduate clinicians must complete several off-campus placements, or practicums. Clinical supervisors often wonder what can count as a direct contact hour for clinicians and what type of experience they need. Below are more details.
What should the graduate clinician’s schedule look like?
Each site will have different requirements and caseloads. For example, schools may require that a clinician arrives at 7:30 a.m., while a private practice may not get started until 11:00 a.m. Clinicians should work with their externship supervisors to determine weekly schedules and workloads that meet the site’s requirements. They should also provide supervisors with starting and end dates. These most likely will align with their program’s on-campus clinic dates. If a clinician needs to alter these dates, they should work with the supervisor and then notify the graduate program.
Clinicians are typically entitled to university holidays, however, if the site holiday schedule differs, the final decision should be between the supervisor and the clinician. Graduate programs may have a minimum number of hours that clinicians should be on site (different than direct contact hours). However, clinicians are always encouraged to spend as much time as possible at the placement while still fulfilling their academic and/or clinical obligations. This allows a clinician to gain knowledge concerning facility operations, acquire more clinical experience and hours, and generally attend to a wider range of clients. If there are ever concerns about attendance, timeliness, or professionalism, please notify the graduate program.
How much time must the clinical supervisor spend in direct supervision of the student clinician?
ASHA requires that the supervisor observe a minimum of 25% of all therapy and 50% of all diagnostics. An ASHA-certified individual must be at the same site whenever a clinician is working with clients. Some sites and populations may require more supervision, such as trach/vent patients or NICU. It is acceptable to share the supervision responsibilities of a clinician between multiple supervisors, as long as they all meet the ASHA supervision requirements.
Can graduate clinicians complete a project/assignment during their placement?
Some sites assign projects (i.e., presentations / in-services, materials creation, PECS book, etc.) as part of the clinicians’ learning during their placement. This is an optional, but viable addition to their externship experience. Due to ongoing class and on-campus workload requirements, additional time spent off-site (over and above onsite hours) working on externship-related projects should be limited.
Which clinical practicum hours/experiences should be documented?
Direct supervised clinical practicum involves direct time spent in actual evaluation or treatment with clients who present with communication disorders. Only direct contact with the client or the client’s family in assessment, management, and/or counseling can be counted toward the practicum requirement. Time spent in meetings with the patient/family present, when the clinician is actively reporting evaluation results, treatment plans, progress, etc., can be counted since that is considered advising, educating, and training caregivers and family. Ancillary activities such as planning, paperwork, and consulting with allied professionals in the absence of clients/family, cannot be counted.
What other questions do you have about clinical practicum hours and experiences? Let us know in the comments below ⬇️