CLINICAL COURSE ISSUES

Clinical Courses - Clinical preceptors and practice sites will be assigned to best meet your learning needs and to meet the objectives of the course. Once you begin clinical courses, faculty expect you to take each course sequentially except for extenuating personal/health problems. If a semester or longer break is necessary, we suggest that you update your clinical skills by taking a clinical independent study prior to resuming the normal clinical sequence.

Clinical Log – All clinical courses will require the submission of a clinical log, a list of the patients you have seen while you are a student. Students are expected to record data such as the clinical site name, preceptor name, date of encounter, age of patient, diagnoses, procedures, and student role. The logs are reviewed by faculty and are very important to determine your eligibility to sit for certification exams.

Contracts - We must have a memorandum of agreement (contract) with the clinical agency before you can work at any site. This process is lengthy and may take 6-8 weeks to complete. If you are assigned to work with a preceptor that also works at another site, please ask if the course coordinator if we have a contract with both sites before you schedule yourself to work with the preceptor at an unassigned sites. Our contracts are with the agency, not the individual preceptors.

Clinical Liability Insurance is maintained by KU for the period of time the student is actively enrolled. This policy covers students only while caring for patients/clients at sites authorized by clinical faculty. Clinical liability insurance does not extend to the student for any ancillary clinical in which they may choose to participate.

Legal Implications of Practice - Documentation of patient care must be made using standard terminology and correct spelling. The student who documents in patient records using either nonstandard abbreviations or nonstandard terminology places him/her self in legal jeopardy. If spelling is a weakness of yours, it is your responsibility to carry and use appropriate resources such as dictionaries.

Course Fees - All clinical courses have lab fees. We use the fees to cover supplies, such as suture kits and casting materials. In addition, many of the clinical courses use teaching patients to provide realistic and standardized evaluation of students’ clinical skills. See Carolyn Block (in Student Affairs Office) ASAP if you have not yet paid for this semester.

Professional Conduct - In order to insure patients rights to confidentiality and privacy, and to establish a therapeutic relationship, students should not have relationships of a personal nature with patients.  Students should explain to the patient any physical contact prior to making the contact, unless it is an emergency situation.  Students will respect and protect the ethical and legal rights of patients.  The student should inform the clinical course coordinator of any conditions or changes that affect his/her ability to perform clinical practice.

Dress Code - The student must wear the KU ID badge or nametag when working with patients.  The student's personal appearance in clinical areas should be neat, clean, and professional in appropriate street clothes.  A white lab coat is optional.  Do wear one if your preceptor does.  Do not wear scrubs (except midwifery students in L&D), jeans, shorts, or dangling earrings.  In addition, no gum chewing and please keep your fingernails trimmed short (your patients will appreciate it!).  

Click on your clinical track to view issues more specific for your program.

• A/GNP
• AG/CNS
• FNP
• Midwifery
• Psych NP