Nursing Admin Policy 1.21 – Nursing Student Placements

Signed by:
Gillian Otway, MSN, RN, CNL
Chief Nursing Officer

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to:

Further the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG) mission to educate and train future health care professionals.
Clarify the roles and responsibilities of the student, faculty, school, and hospital staff.
Provide guidelines to create safe educational experiences.

Statement of Policy

It is the policy of ZSFG to provide opportunities for students from academic programs to receive clinical and non-clinical job-related experiences. Placement of nursing and nursing health care affiliated students requires that the school have a current Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreement with SFDPH; however, an MOU does not guarantee student placement. Failure to comply with the standards of this policy may result in student, faculty, or school being ineligible to participate in student placements with ZSFG Department of Nursing.

Examples of nursing and nursing health care affiliated clinical placements managed by the Department of Nursing include: undergraduate and graduate RN, Advanced Practice Nursing, Vocational Nursing, Psychiatric Techs, Medical Assistants, Certified Nursing Assistants, Sterile Processing Technicians, Scrub Technicians, clerical and phlebotomy.

Responsibility for the care of patients and/or projects assigned to students and work projects is retained by ZSFG unit staff.

Definitions

Students are individuals who are enrolled in a nursing or health care related academic or vocational program.

Faculty are instructors employed by an academic or vocational program to provide direction, instruction, and oversight to students. This term also refers to instructors representing their program while on the ZSFG campus.

School is the academic institution with which the SFDPH has executed an agreement for use of the SFDPH facilities for clinical and/or non-clinical job- related experiences. Schools include universities, colleges, technical schools, institutes, education centers or community colleges that offer education or training opportunities resulting in academic credit or merit for enrolled students.

Preceptor/ZSFG staff are employed by the SFDPH or a SFDPH subcontractor (e.g. UCSF) and located at a SFDPH facility.

Nursing Student Placement Coordinator (Coordinator) is the person or people within Nursing Administration that manage the responsibilities related to nursing and nursing allied health student placements.

Procedure

Nursing Student Placements
1. New placements:
  Schools without a current MOU for student placement agreement that are interested in placing students at ZSFG should contact the Coordinator to evaluate the feasibility. Students cannot be placed without first executing a student training agreement/MOU with the SFDPH Contracts Management and Compliance Office. The School will follow instructions provided by ZSFG with regard to MOU process.
2. All placements:
  1. The Coordinator will assess the hospital capacity for new and ongoing placements in coordination with the Nurse Managers, Preceptors, and other stakeholders. Placements are made based on availability of patients and staff, the effect of placement on care or service, and the outcome or impact of past placements.
    - The request and approval of undergraduate nursing student placements is made through an on-line system or occasionally offline through email/phone calls.
    - Individual precepted placements or externships are negotiated between the school, the student, Coordinator, Nurse Managers, and potential preceptor(s).
  2. Placements are usually approved and confirmed before student onboarding has been completed. Failure to complete required items prior to the agreed upon start date at ZSFG may result in a delay or cancellation of the placement.
  3. Required placement items include:Item: Nursing student placement form
    Responsible party: StudentItem: Online Hospital orientation
    Responsible party: Student
    
    Item: Privacy and compliance training
    Responsible party: Student
    
    Item: POI request form
    Responsible party: School placement coordinator
    
    Item: ZSFG Clinical Rotations Attestation
    Responsible party: School placement coordinator
  4. The School is responsible for ensuring that students have met all health requirements prior to their first day of placement at ZSFG. See health requirements in Appendix A. Health records are maintained by the School and provided to ZSFG within 48 business hours of receiving a request.
Roles and Responsibilities
1. Coordinator
  1. Serves as the central contact for all Schools seeking nursing and nursing allied health clinical placements. Confirms current MOU with student placement agreement.
  2. Serves as the site contact for Centralized Clinical Placement System (CCPS).
  3. Ensures student onboarding is complete. Performs random routine audits of School compliance with student health requirements, and readiness and timeliness of documentation availability upon request.
  4. Addresses conflicts or concerns with students and faculty.
  5. Provides updates to School as needed.
  6. Manages requests for student access to electronic health record documentation systems.
  7. Maintains distribution of student door access cards for instructors and students placed in building 25.
  8. Monitors the content for the ZSFG Nursing Student Placement webpage as needed, and coordinates updates in partnership with ZSFG Communications.
2. The School
  1. Provides the ZSFG Nursing Student Placement Coordinator with verification of the required student information as specified in the MOU with SFDPH. Provides all requested documentation and review needed to initiate and complete a school placement agreement/MOU with the SFDPH Contracts Management and Compliance Office.
  2. Ensures that on-site Faculty are competent and qualified.
  3. Ensures faculty and students meet all ZSFG Department of Nursing requirements by completing the appropriate paperwork.
  4. Background checks, including documentation and related expenses, are the responsibility of the School.
  5. Provides photo ID badge with school information to students and faculty prior to placement at ZSFG.
  6. Escalates any concerns related to student background checks and placements to the Coordinator in a timely manner.
3. Faculty
  1. Faculty on campus with students will complete the on-line Hospital Orientation once, and the Privacy & Compliance Training annually. Confirms completion of required ZSFG Department of Nursing student placement documentation prior to student participation in placement.
  2. Participates in an orientation provided by the Coordinator or designee to the clinical area, including physical layout, instructions on accessing ZSFG and SFDPH policies and procedures, and unit clinical standards.
  3. Provides orientation for the students prior to or on first day of the learning experience at ZSFG.
  4. Ensures school photo ID badges for self and student(s) are visible at all times.
  5. Will supervise students as required by the licensing body in the State of California, school requirements, and the MOU with student placement agreement between the school and DPH.
  6. Faculty will communicate with preceptors/ZSFG staff using SBAR (Admin Policy 8.03: Patient Hand-off with Safe Communication) to insure transmission of all necessary patient care information and information regarding the patient care assignments of all students.
  7. Escalates concerns related to the placement to the Coordinator and responds to inquiries by the Coordinator in a timely manner.
4. Student
  1. Complies with ZSFG and School requirements for placement, all related ZSFG policies and procedures, and standards of patient care.
  2. Has school photo ID badge visible while on the ZSFG campus. Students who do not meet this requirement will be dismissed from ZSFG campus and can only return after the school photo ID badge has been obtained.
  3. Communicates with preceptor/ZSFG staff using SBAR (Admin Policy 8.03: Patient Hand-off with Safe Communication) to insure transmission of all necessary patient care information and information regarding patient care assignments.
  4. For students functioning in a «provider» capacity (e.g., nurse practitioner or nurse midwife) patient medical findings and documentation are co-signed by the designated physician or assigned clinical supervisor.
5. Preceptor/ZSFG Staff
  1. Complies with ZSFG and unit specific requirements for precepting students.
  2. Maintains overall responsibility for the care of the patient.
  3. Communicates with the student and/or clinical instructor about the plan of care, the student’s role for the shift, and which activities require direct supervision and by whom.
  4. Only ZSFG staff qualified by their licensure or certification may withdraw medication from the medication storage cabinets.
  5. Reviews medical record documentation to ensure the care provided is documented appropriately. Co-signs documentation in medical records.
  6. Escalates concerns related to the clinical placement to their unit manager and Coordinator in a timely manner.

Cross References

07 Performance Appraisal and Competency Assessments
04 Employee Health Service
05 HIPAA Compliance Privacy Policy
03 Patient Hand-off with Safe Communication
29 Policy for Social Networking and Other Web-Based Communications
15 Staff Identification
13 Code of Professional Conduct
10 Health Information Services (HIS): Confidentiality, Security, and Release of Protected Health Information
05 New Employee Orientation
04 Patient Rights and Responsibilities
11 Request for Human Subject Research at SFGH
05 Student Placements

Date Adopted: 3/4/2014
NEC Approval Date: 1/18/23
Reviewed: 12/2016, 6/17, 1/24, 9/25
Revised: 12/2016, 9/2017, 7/2018, 1/23, 11/25