The Alternative Handbook

With regards to placements, how satisfied are you with the way your course prepares you?
University of Edinburgh
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Do you have any comments in relation to the way in which your course prepares you for placements?
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I am aware that the clinical demands of placement at Edinburgh are higher than some other courses, but I feel this is
really important to develop competencies within each of the core areas. This can make placement a really busy time, but
I feel much more confident in my clinical skills. I don’t think I would have had this confidence if there weren’t the same
high expectations of trainees on placement.
The teaching is set into blocks, as are the placements, however, as the trainees alternate their placement rotation it can
often be six months or more before you apply the teaching to the relevant placement.
The year is split into two in relation to which placement comes first, with teaching alternating between the two clinical
groups. This is a little frustrating, as it means there can be a full 6 months between being taught about something and
then having to apply those skills. In our first year a lot of time was spent on teaching us how to undertake an assessment.
Although this was helpful, it left a few of us feeling unprepared in terms of how to actually go about applying the intervention
itself. Prior to a placement you always have a block of teaching, however, which is helpful. The teaching involved a
lot of role play in first year, so be prepared for that!
I found the course to be supportive when I had a difficult relationship with a supervisor.
The course gives you lots of information. However I do sometimes struggle with the diagnostic category led teaching as I
feel this doesn’t represent the clinical environment that we work in within placements.
no
The teaching blocks, particularly at the start of 1st year are long, and you cannot possibly absorb it all. I tend to use to
build my general understanding, then go back to the lectures on placement to find solutions to specific problems.
I did my adult placement first, which was good for me as I came from working in an adult service and much of our initial
teaching was on adult mental health. However, for those doing their intellectual disability placement first, that has been
challenging as there wasn’t much ID teaching in the first 6 months.
The teaching, especially at the very beginning, can lack a logical sequence and can appear slightly random: Everything
we do matters and are very relevant but the sequence in which it is taught can sometimes lack structure. I wish we had
gotten more ‘from scratch’-teaching as I had no clinical experience before coming on the course and did not know the
most basic things that were expected. For example, ‘grounding strategies’ were suggested for a certain health problem but
I had no idea what they actually are. I also did not know what therapy looks like, i.e. assessment leads to a formulation
session, then goal-setting, treatment, staying well-plan. Otherwise, all teaching is very relevant. We get service users in
sometimes which is helpful. We also get lecturers from all health boards and specialities which is also helpful. There is
always time for reflection. It is great we get regular face to face teaching in Edinburgh with the whole group -- Videoconferencing
is terrible for me- I am expected to travel 1.5 hours to my health board/the videoconferencing site when I live 5
minutes down the road from the university in Edinburgh from where the lectures are recorded. None of the other students
like videoconferencing either and would prefer to travel to Edinburgh.
The course aim to provide teaching on the main things that you are likely to come across in a placement before you begin.
However, there will also be a great deal of learning on placement which you may rely on your supervisor to guide you on.
I felt that we were given the basics in terms of clinical assessment skills and the key models (CBT); I’m not sure how
better the course could prepare you for the unknown of being a Trainee on your first placement. I think perhaps better
communication between the health boards/supervisors and the course e.g. having some teaching dedicated to an intro to
being on placement and what to expect.
The course struck a good balance between theory and practical clinical skills during introductory teaching, where we had lectures
on common mental health problems and skills workshops on assessment, formulation and CBT treatment techniques.
The Alternative Handbook 153