Practice education is an essential part of the education of health professionals, yet in spite of this there is an acknowledged shortage of placements. At the same time, educational research indicates that peer learning, and in particular problem-based learning, has advantages for students. Studies that have investigated models of placements where more than one student at a time share an educator have shown that this may bring benefits for both educators and students. This study was carried out with the aim of determining the impact of different models of practice placement (1:1, 2:1 and 3:1) on the quality of education for students and on the quality of the experience for educators, in both occupational therapy and physiotherapy courses at a university in the South of England. This article focuses on the occupational therapy component of the study. Six occupational therapy educators and 11 students took part, providing examples of all three models of placement. The findings indicated that while all three models provided both advantages and disadvantages for educators and students, the 2:1 model offered more opportunities for peer support and enhanced the quality of the educational experience through peer learning. In some settings, however, it is probably the case that only the 1:1 model is possible. The findings also suggest that the success of any placement model depends heavily on how well the placement has been planned.

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This study was undertaken to evaluate a range of drug information leaflets from both an adolescent and professional perspective. 72 adolescents were interviewed in focus groups within school settings. Fifteen paediatricians were also interviewed individually. Participants were asked to consider the leaflets under the following categories: initial impact, content and overall suitability for adolescents. Paediatricians were not good judges of which leaflets would appeal to adolescents. They tended to choose the leaflets with comic strip illustrations and those written in a 'cool' or witty style. In contrast the adolescents seemed to prefer a more sober approach with high quality factual information combined with clear illustrations.

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