BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK

264 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215

Field Education Department

LEARNING CONTRACT

Student's Name: Jennifer Adams Date: September 25, 2013

Agency: Metropolitan Hospital -- Inpatient Psychiatric Unit

Field Instructor: Carol Social-Worker

Faculty Advisor: Jane Advisor

Placement Year: Foundation (first) Advanced (second)

I. Orientation to the Agency: Please describe the orientation provided by the agency including a description of the orientation to safety policies and procedures:

Jennifer will attend the orientation for new employees led by the HR Department which reviews the hospital’s policies and procedures, e.g., HIPAA, documentation, infection control, time sheets and ID badges. Carol (primary field instructor) will provide ongoing orientation over the first few weeks about the social work department and the social work role with patients. Safety policies of the hospital are presented in the HR orientation. Issues related to safety with specific clients will be discussed in supervision on a case by case basis. Jennifer will be invited to participate in other safety trainings in the hospital with specific focus on psychiatric patients.

II. Educational Structure

A. Hours and Days at Agency Tuesday and Thursday, 8:30-1; Friday 8:30-5

B. Beginning Date of Placement 9/11/12

Ending Date of Placement 5/3/13

C. Meetings:

1. Required (days & times): Rounds, daily 8:30-9; social work department, first Tuesday of each month, 12-1; team meetings, Thursdays 10-11

2. Optional (days & times): Case conferences, grand rounds, hospital seminars – see Central Calendar

D. Other learning resources available (e.g., library, inservice, seminars, rounds)

See above

III. Supervisory Structure and Process:

A. Primary (MSW) Supervision

1. Field Instructor: Carol Social-Worker, LICSW

2. Day and Time: Fridays, 10-11

3. Amount of Time Weekly: one hour

4. Format: X Individual Group

B. Secondary Supervision (if relevant)

1. Supervisor: Nancy Nurse, MSN, NP

2. Day and Time: Friday, 1 -2:30

3. Amount of Time Weekly: 1.5 hours

4. Format: Individual X Group

C. Backup/Emergency Supervision: When primary field instructor is absent, emergency consultation and supervision will be provided by: Nancy Nurse or Sally Social-Worker

D. In case of student absence, s/he should Call unit and e-mail field instructors

E. Written (or other) Recordings: Please refer the Guide for Field Education for the School's requirement for recordings. Describe how the School’s requirements for recordings will be implemented in the placement and the plan for the faculty advisor to review this part of the student’s assignment.

Jennifer will write two recordings a week, using the BUSSW column format. She will disguise patient information and will e-mail the recordings to Carol by Thursdays at 5. Carol will read and comment in time to review the recordings in supervision on Fridays.

F. Agenda for Supervision: Please describe how agenda for supervision will be set, and who will take responsibility For individual supervision, the agenda will be mutually set by Carol and Jennifer, who will each identify issues to discuss in addition to the process recordings. Jennifer will bring questions to supervision every week. Nancy will provide group supervision with input from participants for the agenda.

G. Teaching and Assessment Strategies for Supervision Sessions: Please identify strategies (e.g., process recordings/analyses, observation, role play) that you will use to teach and evaluate your student’s competence: Process recordings, role-play, observation, discussion of readings from Jennifer’s courses and articles that Jennifer recommends.

H. Evaluation: The School recommends that the evaluation be a collaboration

between the student and the field instructor.

Field instructor(s) responsible for filling out evaluation at end of each

semester: Carol will be the primary person responsible for the evaluation with input from Nancy Nurse and other team members. She and Jennifer will discuss the evalutions and Jennifer will have input as well.

IV. Field Assignments for Developing Social Work Competencies

The following competencies were developed by the Council on Social Work Education and are the basis of the Field Education curriculum for both foundation and advanced students. This learning contract should incorporate these competencies and related behaviors that students must demonstrate. The competencies can be found online at: http://www.bu.edu/ssw/academic/msw/field/competencies/index.shtml

1.  Identify as a professional social worker and conduct oneself accordingly.

2.  Apply social work ethical principles to guide professional practice.

3.  Apply critical thinking to inform and communicate professional judgments.

4.  Engage diversity and difference in practice.

5.  Advance human rights and social and economic justice.

6.  Engage in research-informed practice and practice-informed research.

7.  Apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment.

8.  Engage in policy practice to advance social and economic well-being and

to deliver effective social work services.

9.  Respond to contexts that shape practice.

10.  Engage, assess, intervene, and evaluate with individuals, families,

groups, organizations, and communities.

Please list the student’s field assignments and activities, and identify 3-5 competencies that the student will develop through these assignments. All of the competencies are required to be demonstrated in the field.

The following examples may be helpful to you:

For macro students

Assignment 1: Conduct needs assessment of youth, ages 16-18, in the surrounding neighborhood

Competencies: 1, 3, 9, and 10

For clinical students

Assignment 1: Provide individual therapeutic intervention with 5 adults

Competencies: 1, 2, 5, and 10

Assignment 1: conduct psychosocial assessments with newly admitted clients and write assessments for medical record, individual counseling and discharge planning with approximately 3 clients weekly

Competencies: 3, 4, 7, 10

Below is the explanation of why these competencies were chosen for this assignment.

Competency 3 - Critical Thinking: Jennifer will utilize multiple sources of information for assessment and be able to communicate this to others

Competency 4 – Diversity: In this large urban hospital, Jennifer understand the cultural dimensions of her clients’ situations as well as her own assumptions and biases as she engages in the assessment.

Competency 7 – Human Behavior: Jennifer will apply her knowledge of psychiatric diagnosis and a strengths perspective to her assessment of the clients.

Competency 10 – Engage, Assess, Intervene and Evaluate: Jennifer will engage and assess clients’ strengths, resources and challenges.

Assignment 2: co-lead a DBT group for patients with staff nurse

Competencies: 1, 6, 10

Competency 1 – Professional Identity: Jennifer will bring a social work perspective to co-leading this group, identifying similarities and differences between the social work approach and a nursing approach.

Competency 6 – Research Informed Practice: Jennifer will utilize the skills of dialectical behavior therapy to guide her interventions in this group.

Competency 10 – Intervention: Jennifer will utilize skills of group leadership, including contracting with group members, applying research-based interventions, and attending to group dynamics.

Assignment 3: provide support and discharge planning to individual clients

Competencies: 2, 5, 8, 9,

Competency 2, 5, 8 and 9 – Ethics, Human Rights, Policy Contexts: Jennifer will become familiar with community resources and services for her clients, keeping in mind the stigmatization of people with major mental issues, and the lack of services based on class, race, ability and neighborhood. Jennifer will attend to the ethical dimensions of discharge planning related to issues such as client self-determination (e.g. clients refuse to take medication).

Assignment 4:

Assignment 5:

Competencies:

V. Signatures

A. Student Date

B. Field Instructor Date


BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK

264 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215

Field Education Department

Learning Contract Addendum

Students and field instructors should use this form to record changes in placement assignments, schedule, supervision or learning goals.

Student:

Agency:

Field Instructor:

Brief description of changes:

______

Student (Date)

______

Field Instructor (Date)