Student Role

Professionalism

Students should arrive 15 minutes prior to scheduled clinical start time. If a student will be absent or late, he/she should inform the preceptor and clinical faculty member before he/she is absent or late. Students are required to dressed professionally, have a stethoscope, name badge, lab coat (if required), equipment necessary for his/her specific clinical facility, and necessary reference guides.

Preceptors should let the student know of any change in scheduled hours as early as possible.

Student Time with Patients

On the first few days, students will often need 15-20 minutes for a focused patient visit and 30- 45 minutes for a full, comprehensive, physical exam. The focus should be on the quality of each visit, rather than quantity of visits. The goal is for the student to utilize past learning experiences and integrate the preceptors shared knowledge to become more accurate and more efficient as the semester progresses. Overtime, students will require less time to complete patient care visits. The preceptor is asked to provide and expect increasing levels of independence as the student becomes more experienced in the setting.

Documentation

Students should review patient records prior to seeing the patient. Thus, if a student observes or conducts a visit, he/she should be familiar with the complete patient profile available that day. Given electronic medical record (EMR) system constraints, some students may have little opportunity to practice documentation in the clinical setting. Students are to complete their own write-up (SOAP note format). Retaining the student SOAP note within the patient record/EMR is the decision of the host preceptor site. It is our hope that the preceptor will review at least 1 written SOAP note, during the clinical day.