Allocation of Healthcare Faculty Clinical/Fieldwork Workload Units Procedures
The academic faculty and the college retain ultimate responsibility for the clinical education of program students. In addition, clinical sites and accrediting bodies expect that academic faculty will be allocated sufficient workload hours to collaboratively provide a quality critical education experience for each student.
Though lecture and lab classes require extensive preparation, the preparation for clinical courses is more extensive. It is more cost-effective to adequately allot academic faculty members for clinical supervision load hours than to pay clinical department staff to supervise students. Associate deans and program chairs also have a responsibility to ensure that loading practices are equitable and allocated in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
The allocation of faculty clinical workload units may include the following categories:
- Clinical instruction
- Clinical supervision
- Clinical coordination
It will remain the responsibility of the respective associate dean and program chair to ensure that assigned faculty workloads are reasonable and defensible.
Procedures
Clinical Instruction
Clinical instruction is defined as: a teaching-learning situation in which the student is engaged in a learning process that involves the care or treatment of patients/clients outside the college or within the college-supported Dental Clinic, and is required by respective accreditation standards to be under continuous direction and/or guidance of a college-salaried full-time or adjunct faculty member. By way of student assignments, faculty assumes responsibility for direct patient care and/or treatment under their respective professional license.
Clinical instruction most clearly describes the practice of the following programs, in which students receive direct instruction throughout the clinical experience hours:
- Cytotechnology
- Dental hygiene
- Nursing
- Nurse aide
- Respiratory therapy
Faculty workload units are based on: weekly contact hours (as specified in the North Carolina Community Colleges System Common Course Library) x 1 load units.
Clinical Supervision
Clinical supervision is defined as maintaining regular contact with students who are performing a clinical rotation at various sites. Regular contact may be accomplished via weekly visits or telephone calls. Students should be observed and evaluated during the on-site visits; and, effort should be made to confer with the clinical site preceptor/supervisor.
Clinical supervision most clearly describes the practice of the following programs:
- Cardiovascular technology
- Dental assisting
- Health information technology
- Medical assisting
- Medical laboratory technology
- Occupational therapy assistant
- Ophthalmic medical personnel
- Pharmacy technology
- Physical therapist assistant
- Polysomnography
- Surgical technology
1) Clinical Visit Activities
- Observation and assessment of students performing tasks in the clinical site.
- Documentation of site visit and student performance and grading of required course work
- Private discussions/feedback of the student performance with the student and at least one or more clinical staff members.
- Development of remediation plans for students if applicable.
- Assurance that students are gaining experience in the application of technical procedures and soft skills, such as interacting professionally.
- Facilitate resolution of any issues during the clinical experience.
- Foster supportive professional relationships with each site to promote ongoing involvement, e.g. donation of clinical supplies and advisory board participation.
2) Clinical Visit Length
- Two clock hours will constitute a student visit. Time allocated may be redistributed to respond to student performance issues if necessary.
- Each student scheduled for a:
- 48-hour clinical experience will be visited in person or by phone 2 times during the clinical experience.
- 96-hour clinical experience will be visited in person or by phone 3 times during the clinical experience.
- 144–240-hour clinical experience will be visited in person or by phone 4 times during the clinical experience.
- 384-hour clinical experience will be visited in person or by phone 5 times during the clinical experience.
- Dental assisting students will be visited 4 times during the eight-week scheduled clinical experience as mandated by their accrediting body.
3) Clinical Supervision Workload Hour Calculation
The total number of hours will be divided by 16 to calculate weekly contact hours will divide the total number of hours; the weekly contact hours will be multiplied by 0.75 to determine the workload units.
Clinical Coordination
Clinical coordination reassigned time of workload hours for faculty members is used for the time spent developing and facilitating clinical sites, monitoring existing site agreements, in addition to scheduling students in multiple clinical sites to meet accrediting body requirements.
1) Clinical Coordination Reassigned Time Activities
A. Establish New Clinical Sites
- Phone consultation or physical visit to research the clinical site and assess clinical site feasibility.
- Negotiate and develop agreement with site
- Submit the clinical agreement for approval via Clinical Agreement process:
- Provide in-service training to clinical department staff regarding Central Piedmont requirements.
B. Schedule Students in Sites
- Develop master schedule.
- Communicate schedule to all parties (i.e., Central Piedmont and clinical site).
- Participate in student orientation in preparation of clinical site rotations.
- Foster supportive professional relationships with each site to promote ongoing involvement e.g. continued student placement, donation of clinical supplies and advisory board participation.
C. Monitor Existing Clinical Agreements
Update agreements as defined in the Central Piedmont health and allied health curriculum programs clinical agreement and externship agreement policy.
D. Reassign Time Load Unit Allocation
The clinical coordination reassigned time is to be allotted for the fall and spring semesters is as follows:
- 1–8 clinical sites utilized in a semester = 1 workload unit
- 9–16 clinical sites utilized in a semester = 2 workload units
- 17–25 clinical sites utilized in a semester = 3 workload units
- 26–34 clinical sites utilized in a semester = 4 workload units
- 35 or more clinical sites utilized in a semester = 5 workload units
- A site is defined as a setting where the students are participating in clinical /fieldwork rotations in addition to the number of personnel contacts necessary in a specific location. For example:
- CHS is one contract on the clinical agreement database.
- If it is necessary to work with different lab managers at CHS Main, CHS Cleveland and CHS University = 3 sites.
- If one lab manager coordinates the CHS in-patient, out-patient and pediatric rotations = 1 site.
- Reassigned time for clinical coordination is not available in the summer session.
- Reassigned time is assigned the semester before the clinical class is offered. Fall and summer clinical classes will have reassigned time in the spring term. Spring clinical classes will have time assigned in the fall term.