How do Professional Practica contribute to student learning?

Opportunities to gain clinical experience through hands-on experiential learning with clients or patients are essential for professional preparation to practice. Placement opportunities occur within a broad range and scope of settings. Students in the program should be prepared to complete placements through several placement streams both in and out of catchment.

Students have the opportunity to learn in a wide variety of geographical and practice settings. Some students will be placed in other parts of Ontario, and may also opt to be placed in another Canadian province. McMaster’s North Western Ontario and North Eastern Ontario placement streams afford students opportunities to experience placements in urban or rural / remote settings in Ontario’s north, where they learn about the differences in health service provision in these unique regions.

Students may be required to complete some practica/clinical education placements in northern Ontario or elsewhere outside of the Hamilton area, as McMaster’s catchment areas include surrounding areas and the Northern Ontario streams. In one term of the program, students have the opportunity through a lottery system to attend both the academic and placement portions of the term/unit in the North.   

In the final term, students can apply to have an international placement in virtually any country.

How are practica decided upon?

The Professional Practice Coordinator (PPC) for the M.Sc (OT) and the Academic Coordinator of Clinical Education (ACCE) for the M.Sc (PT) is responsible for arranging all practica/clinical education placements.

Students are unable to make their own arrangements with any clinical facility.

Placements are limited and subject to availability. While geographical preferences may be taken into consideration if possible, the primary objective remains the provision of approved placements for each student throughout the Program.

Students are required to provide their own transportation to each clinical facility and to cover the costs of travel and parking. All expenses incurred while completing the practica/placements are the responsibility of the student. The exception to this is for those students placed in the Northern Ontario (Northwest Ontario and Northeast Ontario) streams in which transportation costs at beginning and end of placement, and accommodation costs are covered by the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.

Read more about the Northern Studies Stream by clicking here.