Preceptor Resources

Welcome! This page is the home for resources designed to support our preceptors, the clinical educators who instruct and evaluate our CCSF healthcare students and interns. On this page you will find links to continuing education and other supportive materials to assist you with the challenges of teaching in the clinical setting. Please contact Megan Corry at mcorry@ccsf.edu if you have any questions or suggested materials for this site.

Teaching in a Clinical Setting 

Teaching in a clinical environment is challenging for a variety of reasons. It helps to first understand the basic science of how we learn. There are many resources available and we recommend taking our annual Preceptor Workshop held each June. During this workshop you can work directly with students to apply educational strategies that promote and enhance student learning, even in an environment that has many distractions such as the prehospital or emergency department setting. Many online resources are also available for initial and continuing education on clinical teaching. The JB Learning Preceptor course provides excellent background on learning theories, providing effective feedback, remediation, and determining baseline competency of a student intern. Contact mcorry@ccsf.edu to obtain an activation code for this online course. The monthly Prehospital Care Research Forum Educational Research Journal Club Podcast is a free online journal club focused on medical education topics. These podcasts are held on the 4th Friday of each month at 10am Pacific time and are targeted to EMS educators in all settings. 

Watch this video on Giving Effective Feedback in the clinical setting produced by the UCSF/ZSFG Emergency Medicine Residency program. Providing specific, relevant, and timely feedback applies to any teaching environment. 

Other resources for educators

AliEM: An excellent website for tools on coaching and feedback, assessment and learning, and more. Geared toward emergency medicine and health professions teaching and learning. 

Teaching in Higher Education: This is a great podcast and webpage for resources and best practices on teaching in the higher education setting. Scan their page for relevant resources. 

The EMS Educator Podcast: Specifically for those teaching EMS students and practicing EMS professionals. Enjoy this recent episode on Rethinking Preceptor Training. 

The Learning Scientists: This podcast, website, and blog will keep you up to date on the latest in the science of teaching and learning! It contains the latest in educational research  plus practical applications to all educational settings. 

The Medic Mindset: A popular podcast for EMS educators who want immediate application of learning science to their clinical education setting. Lab and clinical/field faculty should listen to the episode on Psychomotor Mastery. 

Do you have favorite educator resources? Send them my way! mcorry@ccsf.edu 

Are there any specific requirements to becoming a preceptor for students during the clinical education either in the hospital or in another healthcare setting (clinic, ambulance, etc.)?

In California, the term "clinical preceptor" refers to  a licensed physician, nurse, or PA in a hospital or clinic setting who meets the required EMS and preceptor training outlined in Title 22 CCR 100150. Field experience is also an element of clinical education and can include pre-internship time on an ambulance designed to apply skills in the prehospital environment in preparation for the capstone field internship. The field internship is a capstone experience; therefore, all didactic, lab, and clinical baseline competencies of the program must be met prior to evaluating the student as a team leader  on a capstone field internship. 

I understand that the paramedic intern must have minimum numbers of team leads and ALS contacts during the field internship, but what is a "team lead" and how do we define "ALS contact"?

The CoAEMSP defines the "team lead": “To be counted as a Team Lead the Paramedic student must conduct a comprehensive assessment, establish a field impression, determine patient acuity, formulate a treatment plan, direct the treatment, and direct and participate in the transport of the patient to a medical facility, transfer of care to a higher level of medical authority, or termination of care in the field.”  This should be done with minimal to no prompting by the preceptor and with consideration of safety of responders, patient and bystanders.

The State EMSA defines an "ALS contact" in Title 22 CCR 100154 as " the student performance of one or more ALS skills, except cardiac monitoring and CPR, on a patient." In addition, the regulation states:

"(1) When available, up to ten (10) of the required ALS patient contacts may be satisfied through the use of high fidelity adult simulation patient contacts as defined in Section 100141.1.

(2) Students shall document patient contacts utilizing an EHR system under supervision of the preceptor."

How can I match up with a CCSF Paramedic intern?

First, THANK YOU for your interest in teaching in this challenging setting and joining the team of educators in guiding students toward baseline entry level competency as a Paramedic! Please email the Program Director, Megan Corry mcorry@ccsf.edu to express your interest and determine if you meet the minimum requirements. You will be provided with required training and resources to get started. Once you have demonstrated the basic requirements, you will be matched with an intern for a series of ride alongs to determine readiness. After that, the program will place you and provide required materials, such as the internship manual and documents, to get started. Periodic communication between the intern/preceptor and the program director/designee at key intervals is vital to the success of the intern!