How To Become A Clinical Partner

Available Clinical Education Opportunities

There are two ways clinical partners can become involved in clinical education, through hosting a student during: 

1. a MScPT or an OIEPB internship, and/or
2. Active Clinical Exposure (ACE) sessions.

Benefits of Becoming a Clinical Partner

Becoming a Clinical Instructor provides opportunities to:

• Recruit physiotherapists upon graduation (Hall et al. 2021; Baldry et al. 2000; Newstead et al. 2023)
• Build your professional network (Quesnel et al., 2023)
• Apply for an appointment with the Department of Physical Therapy (visit https://aca.med.utoronto.ca/rehabilitation-sciences-sector-0 to learn more about how to apply for a status appointment and its associated benefits)
• Share knowledge and clinical expertise with physiotherapy students (Newstead et al. 2023)
• Keep up to date with knowledge and skills (Newstead et al., 2023)

Video Testimonials

Students and Clinical Instructors both benefit from clinical education. Please take a minute to hear from our clinical community and our students about the significant impact clinical education has played in their professional and personal development.

Clinician and site perspective: 

• Shane
• Susan

Student perspective: 

• Emma
• Aaron
• Margie

How to Become a Clinical partner

STEP 1: If you are interested in becoming a clinical partner, contact us at ptclined@utoronto.ca. 

STEP 2: The clinical education team will contact you and ask you to complete a Clinical Site Profile.  The site profile helps us learn a bit more about your site and the opportunities that might be available. The clinical site profile can be accessed at https://forms.office.com/r/5LSSVq2txS .

STEP 3: Upon review of the completed site profile, the clinical education team will arrange a visit (either onsite or virtual) to learn more about the clinical site and share information about the MScPT and the OIEPB programs, the Department of Physical Therapy, and expectations in clinical education.

STEP 4: We will send you a placement agreement for review.  The placement agreement is a standard university document that outlines the responsibilities of the site and the university.  Once reviewed, we ask that the site signs and returns the placement agreement.   

STEP 5: The site will be added to the University’s clinical education contact list.

Roles and Responsibilities

There are four key players involved in clinical education. 

1. Director of Clinical Education (DCE)/Academic Co-leads of Clinical Education (ACCE) – This is the academic faculty member within the Department of Physical Therapy who is responsible for clinical practice internships and coordinates all activities related to clinical practice.
2. Centre Coordinator of Clinical Education (CCCE) – This is an individual who is responsible for the coordination of student activities at the clinical site.
3. Clinical Instructor (CI) - This is an individual identified by the CCCE or the DCE/ACCE who supervises students assigned to the clinical internship.
4. Student - This is an individual registered in the MScPT program or a learner in the OIEPB Program.

Each of these individuals has roles and responsibilities. For further information, please visit Section 4 in the Handbook for Clinical Supervision.