Practicum Experience
at Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital
In order to maximize my practicum experience, I created a learning plan that outlined my goals and reflections on my progress toward such goals. I shared my learning plan with my supervisor and she continuously supported me in achieving the experience I was seeking.
I was given this handout on my first day of practicum. It initially served as an outline for my experience but as I continued my time at Mt. Washington, it became much more. Through these various requirements and expectations, I was given the powerful opportunity to craft an optimally beneficial practicum experience for myself. I develop a professional and mutually beneifical relationship with my supervisor; through which, I gained more experiential learning than I ever anticipated from the mere introduction of this handout.
Clinical and Nonclinical Expectations
As a practicum student, I was required to systematically design and implement a long-term project that would somehow benefit patients, families, staff and/or the facility.
My first project involved using my connections through TUSCFR to organize a wide-scale donation for the hospital based on their needs as outlined in their "wish list." I used social media and my various personal network groups to collect hundreds of items for patients, ranging from diapers to expressive art activity supplies. In doing so, I simultaneously benefitted patients, families, staff, and the facility as a whole.
Student Projects
Project 1: Donation
Project 2: Sibling Support
My second project was more narrowly driven to benefit a specific person: the 5-year-old sibling of an infant patient. This particular sibling was not permitted to visit for age- and condition-related reasons, so his parents reported him to be confused and distressed regarding his brother's hospitalization. I took advantage of an opportunity to care for his emotional needs by creating him a scrapbook filled with pictures and developmentally appropriate captions that visually portrayed his brother's positive and therapeutic experiences in the hospital.
Daily Logs
Weekly Article Reviews
Journaling about my daily experiences on site allowed me reflect on both my personal and professional self. I used journaling to express my wide variety of questions, thoughts, feelings, and goals while also evaluating my performance. I shared my journals with my supervisor as means of effectively communicating with her to ultimately construct an optimal practicum experience.
Each week, I searched Towson Univsersity's library databases to find, review, and apply a scholarly article to the child life practices of Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital. In doing so, I was able to uphold the standards of child life by implementing and evaluating evidence based practice. I gained insight and inspiration from these weekly assignments; they helped shape my construction of projects and activities while also allowing me to reflect on the effectiveness of the child life programming techniques in which I participated and observed.