Practice Immersion Attendance and Participation
Absences in the practice immersion may jeopardize a student’s successful progression and completion of the program. Project Mentors and sites have the right to report this behavior to the faculty.
Practice immersion absences may result in referral to the Code of Conduct committee at the discretion of the faculty. Students who are too ill to perform safely in clinical should seek medical attention and contact their clinical faculty prior to missing immersion.
An attendance of 100% is required. Students are responsible for any and all material covered in class, in practice immersion, and in their assigned readings. Participation in the online classroom and field experience is essential to meet the objectives for all field experience courses.
Attendance at all scheduled lectures, discussions, field experience and laboratory courses is expected. Students are expected to be on time to all scheduled activities. Students are required to notify faculty of any absence and/or anticipated tardiness. Individual faculty will discuss the mechanism for notification of absence. Absenteeism may interfere with student attainment of course objectives and may impact the grade students receive in immersion and theory courses.
Students who miss field experiences due to pregnancy, postpartum recovery, pregnancy loss, a disability, a medical condition, religious observances, or other qualifying circumstances may be unable to complete field experience objectives. Students are responsible for notifying all appropriate departments as far in advance as possible of qualifying circumstances, as well as any anticipated absences or delays affecting course requirements. Many qualifying circumstances are foreseeable and allow for advance planning. Early communication enables the Office of Accessibility Services (OAS), the Office of Field Experience (OFE), academic programs, and field placement sites to coordinate reasonable accommodations, placement logistics, and minimize disruptions to the student's progress. Delayed notification may limit available accommodation or placement options, which in turn can delay program progression and/or the anticipated graduation date. Students remain responsible for meeting the essential learning outcomes and technical standards of the program, with or without reasonable accommodations.
Field Experience Absence Policy
Failure to complete the minimum field experience requirements will result in failure of that field experience course. All field experience hours associated with the failed course will be un-approved in Project Concert and must be repeated. All absences are to be reported to the faculty in a timely manner via email, text, or phone, as required by the faculty. If a student is unable to attend a scheduled field experience day, the student must: contact, by phone or in person, the project mentor, at least one (1) hour prior to the scheduled field experience time. Project mentors and sites have the right to report this behavior to the faculty.
Students must complete as appropriate minimum hours to be considered for an incomplete. Faculty must approve for an incomplete, these are not automatically granted. Incompletes are based on faculty discretion and have to be completed in 4 weeks to be successful in the course. Refer to the University Catalog for the Incomplete Policy.
Field Experience Tardy Policy
Field experience tardiness is defined as being late at the beginning of a field experience. Any anticipated tardiness is to be reported to the appropriate faculty. Consequences of being tardy three times within the same course are:
- First Occurrence: The student will receive a warning.
- Second Occurrence: The student may be referred to the Program Director for review for the second late.
- Third Occurrence: The student may fail the field experience course on the third late and will be referred to the Program Director for review and may be forwarded to the Code of Conduct Committee
Field Experience Pause
Field experience pause is the official means of pausing the student from any field experience when students have missing, expired, or insufficient immunizations or documentation requirements on file with the Office of Field Experience. You will be notified by the OFE and/or through Complio before documentation is set to expire. Once documentation has expired, the Clinical Coordinator will notify your field experience course faculty of your field experience pause status if unresolved in a timely manner. You will not be permitted to continue immersion hours or logs until resolved. At all times, it is your responsibility to ensure that your health and safety documentation is up to date and current and that all other program requirements have been met. Health and safety requirements are mandatory for all students where indicated in this handbook. Violation of a field experience pause will result in a referral to the Program Director and/or Code of Conduct Committee.
Field Experience Probation with Restriction
Field experience probation with restriction is the official means of notifying you of unacceptable behavior and/or unsatisfactory performance. Being placed on probation with restriction can affect the field experience/immersion grade and may result in a referral to the Code of Conduct, course failure, immersion ineligibility, and/or administrative withdrawal from the course.
Field experience probation with restriction status is conferred at the discretion of the course instructor, immersion instructor, and respective course faculty and referred to the Program Director for any unsafe or unprofessional behaviors. Violation of an immersion probation will result in a referral to the Code of Conduct Committee.
The following are examples of behaviors that lead to clinical/immersion probation with restriction:
- Participating in a setting with expired or outstanding immunizations/documentation, participating in a setting without approval or documentation, completing hours at a non-approved site or with an unapproved preceptor, or delay in completing COMPLIO by the due date
- Unexcused absences
- Tardiness, failure to notify faculty/staff of tardiness or absences in clinical
- Insufficient preparation for the field experience
- Failure to follow clinical faculty or clinical nurse guidance
- Unsafe practice in the clinical area
- Violation of professional and behavioral standards as outlined in the DNP Clinical Handbook, USU Catalog and USU Code of Conduct.
- Causing a client unnecessary suffering or harm
- Failure to report abnormal data in a timely manner to the appropriate persons
- Conduct inappropriate to the role of the student as outlined in this manual
- Failure to dress in approved program attire
- HIPAA violations
- Leaving the immersion site without permission at any time during immersion hours
- Performing skills/interventions which have not been signed off by the immersion faculty
- Acting outside of a student scope of practice
- Being at the immersion site when the preceptor is not at the site.
- Rotating with unapproved project mentors or sites.
Although some probationary actions and/or other sanctions may be assessed by the College, learners may still be referred to the University level Code of Conduct for violations of conduct outlined in this manual and/or the University Code of Conduct.
In the event a student is found to have violated the University Code of Conduct, is placed on field experience probation with restriction and/or jeopardized a field experience placement, the Program Director, OFE Director and/or designee reserves the right to require the student to identify field experience placements independently. This is in addition to any sanctions the student may realize as part of the Code of Conduct proceedings or otherwise.
Field Experience Probation with restriction and Code of Conduct Referral Procedure
- Code of Conduct processes will be initiated.
- The faculty will discuss the concern with the Program Director.
- A letter of probation will be provided to you by the Program Director.
- A copy of the letter will be sent to the Office of Field Experience and Academic Advising, and will be placed in your file.
- Field experience probation may result in the student being withdrawn from the course. If the matter is referred to the Code of Conduct committee, the student may need to withdraw from the course or program.
- Refer to University Catalog for more information