FAQs
How many placements and hours do I require to graduate?
The MScPT program consists of 6 clinical placements: one 1-week placement and five 6-week placements for a total of 31 weeks and 1200 practice hours.
What happens if I miss placement time due to illness?
Due to requirements for graduation, time missed while on clinical placement typically will need to be made up. Time missed can be made up either on the current placement or will be tagged onto later placements. Absences of more than one day in a clinical placement will require medical certification.
What types of placements do I need to complete in order to graduate?
The program is designed to give you experience in the core areas of physiotherapy and in four placement settings. Core areas include musculoskeletal, cardiorespiratory and neurology; and settings include outpatient orthopedics/private practice, acute care (hospital based), community (rehabilitation hospital, long term care, community rehab) and at least one Alberta Adventure (outside the greater Edmonton or Calgary areas).
Will I stay in Edmonton for all my placements?
No. You will do a minimum of one placement outside the greater Edmonton and Calgary regions. Edmonton and Calgary cannot supply the number of placements and experiences that we need at any one time. Therefore it may be the case that you will need to travel to other centres in the province in order for you get the experience you want and need to meet your requirements for graduation.
Will I be paid for working on placement?
No. In fact, as each placement is a university course you will be required to pay fees for your placements.
What happens if I don't have my CPR or medical forms handed in on time, or I don't register for the placement?
You will not be permitted to start your placement.
How do I make my choices for placements?
All placement offers are kept in a database; you must choose 5 placement sites from this database for each course. These sites are then randomly allocated to students prior to the start of the placement.
Do I get allocated a placement based on my last name (alphabetically)?
No. All students are entered into the database, then for the first 3 placements, placement matching will be done by hand; the last 3 placements will be randomly allocated by the computer system.
Can I organize my own placement?
No. All placements must go through the Academic Coordinator of Clinical Education (ACCE). If you are aware of a new site that has not yet taken students and would like to, please talk to the ACCE.
Can I do a placement outside of Alberta?
Yes. For placements IV, V and VI you may request to do a placement out of province and for placement VI you may request an international placement. Currently there is a $50-$75 fee for most out of province jurisdictions. The ACCE will discuss the process for each of these options.
Can I defer a placement?
Under exceptional circumstances (medical, religious) a placement may be deferred. This will need to be discussed with the ACCE. Students who defer a placement must realize that they will lengthen their course and may not graduate with the rest of the class. Typically the deferred placements occur in January after the completion of the rest of the coursework and placements.
Do I get a grade for my placement?
Yes, but letter grades are not used. Your clinical instructor will recommend a grade which the ACCE will take into account when assigning your final grade. Your grade will either be credit or no credit.
What happens if I fail a placement?
If you fail you will receive a No Credit on your academic transcripts. A student who fails a placement must repeat that placement in a similar type of service and setting. You are required to re-register for the course and pay the course fees in order to do this. Should a student fail two clinical courses, that student will usually be required to withdraw from the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine.
What happens if I get injured on placement?
You need follow the policies and procedures of the site in which you are working (including completing all WCB and incident reporting paperwork etc), and you must alert the ACCE within 24hrs of the incident.
Can I do the same type of placement twice?
The program supports that you choose new settings and areas of practice for each placement in order to give you the broadest and most diverse clinical education as possible.
Is there any funding for placements outside of Edmonton?
Yes, but only for those students undertaking placements in the Northern regions of Alberta. Please see the northern Alberta Development Council website and click on the "Money for Education" link on the top right of the page. Then click on Health Care practicum funding.