When a Student Fails to Make the Grade
Ethics Roundtable: Case Study
| Sarah is a graduate student clinician in
speech-language pathology, assigned to an off-site
placement in an acute care rehabilitation setting. She
expects to complete her graduate program at the end of the
current term and has accepted a CFY position in a
rehabilitation program. Throughout the 5 day/week, 10-week
placement, Sarah has had a number of problems. Her on-site
supervisor observes that Sarah is often late for
appointments, fails to complete paperwork, shows poor
documentation skills, has difficulty relating to patients
and families, and struggles to make clinical decisions and
to master clinical assessment tools. During conferences the
supervisor has given Sarah constructive suggestions and
they have agreed on specific goals, such as being on-time
for all clients, completing daily paperwork before leaving
the facility, and preparing for sessions ahead of time.
Over the past few weeks, Sarah has shown some
improvement but continues to need direction to select
therapy materials, to set daily goals for patients she has
been managing for several weeks, and to administer familiar
assessment tools accurately.
The supervisor consults with the university practicum
coordinator to outline her concerns. The university
coordinator notes that Sarah's performance has been
uneven throughout her enrollment in the program and that
other supervisors have expressed similar concerns. The
university coordinator points out that Sarah is scheduled
to graduate this term and that a less-than-satisfactory
grade could create problems.
Questions to consider:
- What is the appropriate action for the off-site
supervisor? What is the appropriate action for the
university co-ordinator? What guidance is available from
ASHA's Code of Ethics?
- What are the implications of passing or failing
Sarah?
- What options are available to the off-site
supervisor? The university co-ordinator?To the
student?
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Ethics
Roundtable Home
Responses
Annotated Bibliograhy
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To submit cases or to be added to the list of respondents
please contact: Helen Sharp Department of Speech Pathology and
Audiology, 307 WJSHC University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242.
Phone: 319-335-6596, fax 319-335-8851, e-mail:
helen-sharp@uiowa.edu