Please help me with figuring out what I'm doing wrong on my placement
Okay, so there has been a lot going on and I am desperate to figure out what I'm doing wrong. I'll try to make this as concise as possible.
I am on my final 9-week paediatrics placement in occupational therapy (masters). I have two supervisors, ones in paediatrics burns & plastics and the other is in outpts. My supervisors are both very lovely and, personally we all get along great. However, I have been struggling so much on this placement trying to incorporate the feedback they're giving me. I feel like I am putting in so much effort and energy but I keep getting it wrong everytime. They seem so unhappy with me but it's like they can't clearly articulate it, or I'm just not understanding it.
For context, when I first came in I said I was keen to do some projects for them. Stuff like student manuals, leaflets, social media posts, etc. So, I would work on these things in between shadowing them. I can easily write reports and SOAP notes. However, they keep telling me that I have to develop my clinical reasoning. So, I wrote out from some pt folders/case studies what I would do for a treatment plans and why, as a way to evidence this. My supervisor said it was excellent. They asked when would we do a standardized vs. a non-standardized assessment, which I answered and brought to supervision. Again they said everything is correct. But still, I keep getting the exact same feedback that I havn't developed my clinical rsng. So, things like this keep going on, where they mention something and I come back thinking I have the answer but it's not quite what they're looking for. I've even explicitly telling them after an appointment, what I think about what we saw, and they'll confirm that this is clinical reasoning. I wrote out a super detailed treatment plan, including activity analyses', because I thought that this would show why we're choosing certain treatments/clinical reasoning, to which again they said was amazing but wasn't what they were looking for.
I don't mind the theory stuff and can easily go quite deep into it, so I think I just went too far deep into some topics and now they think I can't do any practical stuff. But, the thing is is that I didn't want those projects to take away from my clinical stuff, I just wanted to do it on the side because I enjoy it. They havn't seen me interact with alot of patients too. I'm 7 weeks into my placement and I just started actually leading sessions myself. I got really good feedback on how it went after too with some pointers about various things. But yet they still tell me my clinical reasoning is lacking. I carefully tried to tell them today that I thought I needed more time leading sessions and I could tell they got really defensive. I immediately tried to make it better by saying how much I was grateful for their patience with me, etc.
I'm just so beside myself. I feel like I am putting every ounce of effort I have and keep getting dejected and they have told me they would give me a 'C' grade for my clinical reasoning and an A+ for theory. I have cried (at home) twice now because I was just feeling so frustrated. I really want to do well and am so willing to put the work in. I am just so lost at what it is they need from me. I have gone to the university for help but they immediately want to get involved and I don't want this if I can help it.
I'm sorry for the winded post, I would just be grateful to get any guidance. Thanks kindly
Posted Jul 9, 2025, 6:11 PM UTC