Healthcare Clinicals
Healthcare clinicals are based on observation and care of patients in different areas of medical practice. These experiences place students in a variety of healthcare settings so they may better understand the scope of the profession and healthcare needs. They are closely supervised and may require significant off campus hours. High-quality clinical experiences include coordination and integration between the clinical site and classroom learning. Credit hours, outcomes, and levels of intensity vary depending on the course of study.
The teacher/WBL coordinator must ensure that clinical site supervisors understand their legal responsibilities and potential liabilities before a student starts the clinical experience. These include safety protocol, child labor, discrimination, and sexual harassment laws.
- Site identification and selection:
- Ensure individual/facility is willing to take on the responsibility of training high school students.
- Verify that the individual/facility is approved by the appropriate state agency overseeing health facilities and providers.
- Develop training agreements and training plans to include the purpose of the clinical experience and an outline of site supervisor and student responsibilities and student learning outcomes aligned with CTE Program Standards.
- Contact your district administrators to determine what, if any, additional agreements and/or documentation are required to place students in off campus clinical sites.
- Student preparation:
- Provide checklist for students to prepare including preparing a resume, developing objectives, contacting employers, arranging schedules and transportation, and background research.
- Classwork focused on research, career exploration, and skills that will be applied at the clinical site.
- Students are informed of dress and behavior expectations at their clinical site.
- Provide students with a copy of employer evaluation forms and encourage them to be familiar with the expectations and how they are being evaluated.
- Students must be informed about sexual harassment, and proper channels to report.
- Record keeping:
- Maintain accurate up-to-date documentation of signed agreements and required forms, journals, and evaluations specific to the work experience for each student.
- Employers may keep student job applications, attendance records, student self-evaluations, resumes, and parent contact information on file.
(WBL Guidebook page 7)