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School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) Policy
Rationale/Purpose:
The School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) will provide supervision of health professions students in all clinical areas to ensure quality education as well as patient and student safety.
Definitions:
Health professions program
Any of the SMPH Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Physical Therapy, Master of Genetic Counselor Studies, Master of Physician Assistant Studies, or Master of Public Health programs.
Student
Any SMPH student in a health professions program.
Supervisor
A faculty, resident, fellow, and/or training site employee designated to provide direct student supervision in clinical settings, including inpatient, ambulatory, and telehealth.
Training site
A separate entity hosting students for clinical rotations pursuant to an affiliation agreement (e.g., a health system, hospital, clinic, or care facility).
Policy:
The SMPH expects each training site, in collaboration with the appropriate health professions program, to be responsible for ensuring student and patient safety in the clinical experiences in which students participate.
At each clinical experience orientation, students must be informed of the expectations for their participation and supervision in patient care.
Education leaders, as designated by the appropriate health professions program, are responsible for:
Informing supervisors of these same expectations.
Assigning students to supervisors for all clinical experiences and for ensuring that supervisors and students are made aware of these assignments.
Students must have access to appropriate safety equipment for all inpatient and ambulatory clinical settings.
Students will adhere to the most current safety practices, as determined by the training site and health professions program, and in accordance with state, county, and/or campus policies as well as the current guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At a minimum, students must follow current UW–Madison safety guidelines.
Supervisors are responsible for ensuring adherence to appropriate safety practices.
Students are to be provided with rapid, reliable systems for communicating with supervisors, such as pager numbers.
The amount of supervision required for each student will vary according to the clinical task and clinical status of each patient and should be commensurate with the student’s level of training, education, and clinical experience.
Supervision is designed to foster progressive responsibility. Whenever clinically appropriate, supervisors should provide opportunities for students to demonstrate increasing independence and responsibility for patient care.
With respect to students in the Doctor of Medicine program, where clinically and educationally appropriate, physician supervisors may delegate responsibility for some elements of teaching and supervision to non-physician care providers (e.g., physician assistants, nurses, nurse midwives, etc.) within the institution. It will be the responsibility of each physician supervisor to determine which learning experiences are appropriately delegated and to ensure the non-physicians providing such supervision are working within their scope of practice.
An affiliation agreement with language setting forth requirements for appropriate student supervision will be in place between the SMPH and any training site before students may participate in clinical experiences at that site.
Policy Administration
Approval Authority:
Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs and Dean, School of Medicine and Public Health
Policy Manager:
SMPH Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Contact:
SMPH Academic Affairs Administrative Director & Business Manager -- Sherryl Pertzborn, pertzborn@wisc.edu, (608) 263-2627
