Readiness, Required Trainings & Documentation Requirements
The Core Faculty and DCE determine eligibility for each learner to participate in clinical education experiences. Criteria include but are not limited to:
- Cumulative 3.0 GPA at both UCSF and SFSU, and in combination
- Passing grades and 100% safety on all practical and competency exams
- Compliance with professional behavior expectations
- Additional for PT 802: Passing grade on acute care qualifying exam
- Additional for PT 418: Passing grade on orthopedic and neurological qualifying exams
Learners must also upload standard documentation requirements to CastleBranch in order to participate in clinical education experiences. Sites may also require additional documents (e.g., additional background check, drug screening) and/or trainings prior to starting a clinical experience.
Documentation of completion of all required trainings must also be submitted prior to being cleared to attend clinical experiences. All students receive instruction in the utilization of standard precautions and infection control procedures for the prevention of the transmission of blood borne pathogens, airborne diseases, and infectious illnesses.
Communication and Conflict Resolution
Clinical education site partners, faculty, and learners communicate with one another in a meaningful and productive manner, and work in continual close alliance to foster an optimal learning experience. Communications typically include:
- Phone Calls/Emails/Zoom Meetings: clinical sites and learners are encouraged to contact the DCE whenever there is a problem, concern, or opportunity to provide feedback. If a CI has concerns regarding the quality of a student’s performance at any point in a clinical experience, they are asked to contact the DCE immediately and jointly determine a timely plan of action to address the problematic areas.
- Forms and Questionnaires: usually in preparation for clinical experiences or requesting feedback on the program and the experience.
- Clinical Performance Reports: regular evaluation of learner performance is of the utmost importance in as it provides the program and learner with data about the learner’s clinical abilities as well as feedback about the strengths and weaknesses of the academic curriculum (thus serving as a basis for appropriate modifications as needed).
- Midterm Visits: the program arranges an on-site visit, phone meeting, or video check-in midway through each learner’s clinical experience. At this visit, the DCE or a core faculty designate will meet with the learner and CI together or separately as preferred, and assess progress toward entry-level criteria using the Midterm Visit Form. They will summarize progress made to date, any alternative learning experiences, red flag items or concerns, and appropriateness of supervision, and suggest modifications as needed.
- Clinical Educator Meetings: the program co-sponsors an annual meeting for SCCEs and CIs to discuss changes in the clinical education program and provide education on clinical education topics. The DCE also participates in the Northern California Clinical Education Consortium (NCCEC), which provides updates on clinical education concerns to therapists throughout Northern California.
- Learners contacting sites: learners are expected to contact their assigned clinical sites at least 6 weeks prior to arrival (ideally 8 weeks prior) at their site to: 1) provide five objectives for their clinical experience and their preferred method of learning; 2) confirm the paperwork and documentation requirements (background checks, drug testing, etc.) as well as any trainings that must be completed prior to beginning the clinical experience; 3) confirm working hours and arrival time/ location for the first day. (Some clinics mail information in advance, but it’s a good idea to re-confirm the appropriate arrival time and location for the first day by calling the clinic one week prior to the start date.)
If for any reason you feel that a clinical experience is not meeting your educational needs, please first seek assistance in defining and resolving the issue from your CI (even if the problem is perceived as a “personality conflict” between the CI and learner). If efforts to resolve the problem directly with the CI have failed, learners are encouraged to approach the SCCE. Learners and CIs/SCCEs should also feel free to contact the DCE at any time (the earlier the better), as they can act as an impartial third party and serve as a mediator if necessary. When possible, a site visit will be arranged to meet with the individuals involved. Learners are also expected to check their UCSF email daily for any clinical education-related communication during a clinical experience.
Termination of a clinical experience may occur if all parties deem the problem unresolvable and request that the experience be terminated. Reassignment will be at the discretion of the DCE, Program Chairs, and core faculty, and will depend on availability of another site.
Assigning Learners to Clinical Sites
The DCE makes placements primarily through a lottery system from learners’ site preferences lists. Learners must not contact sites on their own to ask for placements. Academic and clinical learning needs are paramount, so assignments are made in with input from core faculty (i.e., whether a learner’s educational needs are likely to be met at a particular clinical site) and may take into consideration: availability of clinical site placement offers; learner preferences and clinical interests; whether the clinical site will contribute to the student’s ability to be a generalist practitioner and will contribute to the student’s exposure to a diverse patient population; hardship requests including proof of documented accommodations required in clinical settings; clinical site applications and/or interviews.
Once all site placement offers are confirmed (most sites reserve a set number of opportunities for our students), the DCE provides a list of options available for each clinical experience so learners can create their preference lists. Some sites only have “first-come, first-served” placements, and all learners are given the opportunity to express interest as soon as possible, though given their time-sensitive nature, the placement may no longer be available when the DCE contacts the site to request the assignment.
You can review information about all of our clinical partner sites through the Exxat system, Clinical Site Information Forms (CSIFs), and previous students’ comments about the sites in the Student Evaluation of Clinical Experience & Instruction Forms. Links to all of these forms are available in your cohort’s Clinical Education Portfolio on the CLE. Site information includes the types of patients treated, staff and student resources, housing, meals, parking, the need for a car, etc.
While every effort is made to place learners in one of their preferred sites, this may not always be possible as multiple factors play a role in the final clinical assignments. Learners may sometimes be financially or geographically inconvenienced by their assignments, as the DCE tries to best serve the educational needs of learners while managing the ongoing relationships between the program and its affiliated clinical sites. Assignments may sometimes change due to cancellations or other circumstances, and learners will be reassigned as soon as possible.