Clinical Abscences

Hi: We are allowed one day of abscence in clinicals, three tardies - not over 20 minutes each, and three tardies = one abscence.

We have clinicals 2 days a week (8 hours per day) and are allowed to miss 12 hours of clinicals per semester

This next semester (Our last!) we will have clinicals 3 days a week but still only allowed to miss 12 hours

Regardless of the reason - excused, unexcused, in the hospital, whatever - miss more than 12 hours of clinical or 12 hours of class time per semester and you are immediately out of the program

Last semester, we were allowed two absences (we work 10.5 hours, 2 days/week for 16 weeks). However, each case is looked at individually. If a person has three absences and if two of them are due to a death in the family and if the person is performing well in clinicals, then they do not have to make up the time. I know those are a lot of "ifs".

This semester we are allowed one absence. I like that each case is handled individually. I had to leave halfway through one day because the school nurse called (kid was sick), my practicum mentor did not even count it as missed time because I am doing very well.

If a person does have to make up time, it is at their own expense and our college charges $60/hour. Needless to say, everyone tries to avoid any absences just in case.

In my program, we are allowed 2 absences per semester. But it is also looked at on an individual basis. All clinical absences must be made up before the end of the semester. In my case, my son was still recovering from open heart surgery (with complications) when this semester began. I missed two clinicals, but was told because of my situation that if I had to miss again, that they would work it out with me. It is nice to know that they would have worked with me had I had to miss any more, but thankfully I did not have to.

It is interesting to know the other school's policy on this matter.

sha

In my program, only two excused absences are allowed and they must be made up before the end of the semester. Several of my classmates are making theirs up tomorrow. One young girl has two unexcused absences. Though she is able to make up one tomorrow with the others, she won't be able to make up another due to the semester ending. I'm not sure what's going to happen with her.

Tense situation.

We are expected to attend 100% of all our nursing prac. lessons - i.e. nursing lab sessions, clinical placements . . .

If a student is not in attendance at any lab. we can make up the missed time - it must be made up asap followed by a legitimate reason - - - med. certificate/letter from doctor. In some cases students may be required to complete a clinical placement outside University semester time.

Tutorials/lectures the requirements are not so strict - - - where we are required to have either 80% or 90% (?) attendance - I'd need to look this up in my notes made earlier in the yr.

At my school, clinical attendance is mandatory. If you do miss a day for whatever reason then you have to submit a letter to the faculty asking for a waiver from the attendance policy. It is up to them to waive it or not. You usually have to submit a letter from your doctor if you were sick. I've had to do clinicals even when I was sick as well as with an injured back, it's as if they don't care. But we've found that it's best to miss a day if you show up for clinicals and have the instructor send you home because you are too sick to be around patients, that way you're more than likely to get a waiver. However, even with a waiver, you can still be kicked out of the program even after missing only one day. Guess it depends on your grades and how well you're doing in clinicals.

In my clinical you can miss a day, with a reason, but if you miss 20% or more of the clinical you fail and have to restart again next year. Also, you lose points every time you miss or are late, so it can really add up even before you reach the 20%

We are allowed to miss 2, 8 hour days of clinical. Last year my best friend missed 4 days due to having to fly to another province for her grandmas funeral and ended up having to pay 1600$ to make up the time.

If we know in advance we need to miss a day we can arrange to do our clinical day that week on a different day without penalty.

If we call in at the last minute or just miss the day we get a clinical unsatisfactory for the day.

If we are late for clinicals, even one minute late, we are sent home with an unsatisfactory for the day.

We then must come in an extra day the following week to make up the missed time. Making up the time does not erase the unsatisfactory.

We also get unsatisfactories for failure to follow procedures or if we do anything we shouldn't have done during clinicals, or if our written assessments of our patients are not good enough.

Three clinical/lab unsatisfactories in any class gives us an automatic F in the class.

We then have to take the class again the following semester instead of moving on in the program.

We can also only repeat one class during the entire program, any more than that and we are dropped from the program and can not attempt re-entry for 4 years.

Let me see if i can explain this one to be understood:

You can only miss 20% of EACH place you're at (ex. OR, ER, Med-Surg and so on). But the total days you miss at any time over the year is not to exceed 20%.

Why on earth do some of these schools treat you like children? I can't believe that if you're one minute late, they dismiss you for that day. That's not reasonable. Seems a lot of variation here - some places seem more flexible than others.

M.