Section 2: Equipping Students for Tough Situations
Part 5. Equipping students for tough situations
While we cannot prepare students for every difficult situation, the preceptor can instill principles in the student to allow them to respond professionally, calmly, and with common sense.
Best Practices
- Prepare students for common difficult/awkward situations during orientation
- Hold small group discussions about what one would say in specific situations, including situations of safety or potential sexual harassment
- Model professional ways to discuss HIV/AIDS with a patient
- Equip students to see signs of domestic abuse or child abuse and discuss procedures for mandatory reporting
- Familiarize students with resources available to help patients with housing or food insecurity
- Learn together about gender diversity and look up appropriate resources
- Asking about pregnancy/breastfeeding status
- How to navigate patients who are refusing to have a student intern participate in their exam
Preceptor Pearl: Students find their preceptors to be most approachable when the preceptor acknowledges that they do not know everything, and show understanding of the student’s anxiety about a given situation. Telling stories about your own experiences to a student can help.
Preceptor Pearl: Tell the students, “when in doubt, come and ask the preceptor!”
Additional Resources
Qualities of a good preceptor from an audiologist’s perspective.
Practical Framework for Fostering a Positive Learning Environment
(Please make sure to refer to Table 1)
