Guidelines
Clinical Accommodations
We are committed to providing equal access to all clinical education opportunities. If you have documentation from Student Disability Services (SDS) detailing accommodations in the clinical setting, please share your letter with the DCE as soon as possible. You should also share this information with the SCCE once you are assigned to a clinical site. The DCE will work with the site to determine what supports may be put in place to allow full participation in the clinical education experience.
Attendance and Illness or Medical Emergencies During Clinical Experiences
You are expected to follow the same schedule as your CI during integrated and full-time clinical experiences. Holidays are determined by the schedule of the clinic, and not by the program (clinic holiday time does no need to be made up).
If you are ill or any medical issue arises that could put patients at risk (e.g., communicable illness), you are expected to call and make contact with your CI or SCCE at the site as well as the DCE, by 8am that morning. Your site may be able to suggest a local physician/clinic that provides non-emergency care. In the event of an emergency, go to the nearest emergency room or call 911. You are encouraged to identify local care options within their first few days at site as you will be responsible for costs through your medical insurance coverage.
Please also submit an Absence Notification Form on each day of absence (link on CLE page). Failing to notify the clinic and DCE of an absence may result in a No Pass/No Credit grade for the course. Absences for reasons other than illness are not permitted. Time which must be made up may be fulfilled on non-workdays to complete the experience on time, and this must be coordinated with the DCE.
You will work in a variety of health care delivery settings and provide care to a variety of patients with infectious illnesses. Unexpected incidents at site may occur related to patient care, and these must be reported to the DCE within 24 hours. Additionally, most clinics have site-specific policies and procedures for reporting incidents, and students must follow those requirements as well. If you are in doubt as to whether an incident should be reported, please consult with your CI or another supervisor and the DCE as soon as possible.
While at the clinical site, you are directly responsible to the CI/SCCE and the clinical facility, and you must comply with the facility’s policies and procedures, including those related to use of electronics and dress code. You are also responsible for setting up and cleaning up the work area of all assigned patients, as well as assisting in the general maintenance and orderliness of the facility. In addition, personal phone calls should be limited to emergency situations only and should be cleared with your CI. You may not employ cell phones or clinic computers for personal use during working hours.
Confidentiality and Documentation/Charting
All information regarding patients and their families is strictly confidential. It should never be shared with classmates, friends or family, anyone on social media, or with other health care providers except in need-to-know situations such as emergencies. Breach of patient confidentiality is a federal offense (HIPAA) and may be subject to penalty under law, as well as failure of the clinical experience course. Assignments for the clinical experience must be de-identified of all personally identifiable information (PII) prior to submission. Learners must request permission from the clinic to use any information outside of the site, including procedures or patient care protocols. Each facility is responsible for informing the student of their specific confidentiality and information-sharing regulations during orientation to the site, and each student is responsible for clarifying and following them.
Documentation needs to be timely, accurate, thorough, and concise. Each site will have standards for documentation to which the student must adhere. The following should be observed as general guidelines:
- Patient charts may never be removed from the clinical facility.
- Electronic patient documentation may never be saved on personal computers or flash drives.
- Charts should not be left in a treatment area when the student or a staff member is not present.
- Patients may not have access to their medical record unless they have gone through the appropriate procedures as determined by the site.
- All documentation should be satisfactorily completed prior to the end of each clinical day.
- Only abbreviations approved by the site should be used in documentation.
- All documentation should be legible and use appropriate grammar and punctuation.
Use of Gen AI and Personal Devices in Clinical Education
Our program discourages the use of Generative AI or large language models (LLMs) in any part-time or full-time clinical experience until a secure and compliant solution from UCSF is in place.
Personal phone calls to/from students at the clinical site should be limited to emergency situations only and should be cleared with the CI. Please do not use personal cell phones or use clinic computers for personal use during working hours. Many sites have specific policies for electronics, and these policies must be followed.
Dress Code
For clinical experiences, please follow the dress code specified by each facility, which is the final authority on dress code policy at that site. Inquire about the facility’s guidelines prior to each clinical experience, and if they do not have a dress code or the policy is less than comprehensive, please follow the program and UCSF Medical Center Standards.
Evaluating Clinical Courses
Learners are responsible for preparing for patient care and completing all course assignments in a timely fashion throughout clinical experiences. We recommend reviewing your notes and didactic resources in appropriate content areas prior to and during your clinicals. Reference materials relevant to the assigned caseload may also be available at site. Performance standards and expectations, grading policies and course requirements, as well as the rights and responsibilities of learners and CIs/SCCEs, are all outlined in each course syllabus (PT 410, PT 801, PT 802, and PT 418).
The DCE will make the final decision on all full-time clinical experience course grades, considering the clinical setting, the learner’s experience with patients/clients in that setting, the CI’s narrative midterm and final comments on the PT CPI, the relative importance of any sub-threshold performance criteria, progression of performance from midterm to final evaluations, and whether or not a significant concern was noted.
If a CI believes a learner may be at risk of a non-passing grade, they are expected to communicate this to the learner and the DCE at the earliest possible moment. All three individuals will work together to develop a success plan specifying the concerns and identifying expected outcomes and required behavioral objectives. If there is no improvement or if, at any time, a CI or SCCE requests that the student not continue at the site because of performance or professional issues, the learner may be removed from the experience and receive a failing grade.
Prior to assigning a failing grade, the DCE will discuss all student evaluations with the A-DCE, Program Directors, and/or the Academic and Professionalism Review Committee (APRC). Additional sources of information may be considered such as the student's performance in all previous clinical experiences and the amount of improvement they've shown during the experience. Additional learning activities and/or repeating the clinical may be required as determined by the DCE/A-DCE in consultation with the APRC. The location, length, and type of make-up experience will be determined by the DCE in consultation with the A-DCE, Program Directors, the APRC and/or the core faculty. Placement dates and location will be based on availability of sites.
If a learner cannot complete a clinical experience due to illness, injury, or family emergency, the experience may be graded as incomplete (I). This is an exceptional grade given only in circumstances beyond a learner’s control. The length and placement of the make-up experience will be determined by the DCE. While an attempt will be made to accommodate the student’s choices for the repeat experience, it should be noted that clinical options may be limited due to other commitments of the clinical sites. For learners re-entering the curriculum following an approved leave of absence (LOA), the continuation of clinical experiences commences when the DCE is able to find an available and appropriate clinical placement.
Student Evaluation of Clinical Experience
You will be required to complete the APTA Physical Therapist Student Evaluation: Clinical Experience and Clinical Instruction PTSE1 & PTSE2 through EXXAT at the end of each clinical experience. This tool enables you to provide feedback to your CI/SCCE regarding their teaching effectiveness, and to comment on your academic preparation for the clinic. Learners must review their feedback with their CI before their last day at the site. You are expected to provide constructive and respectful feedback to your CI and the clinic.