28. Professional Conduct in Clinical Settings
Professional conduct is fundamental to clinical practice and thus to all clerkships within the Program. Refer to Professionalism (Section 9) for program policies related to professional conduct. Students are responsible for assuring that they are complying with standards for professional conduct in all clerkships. Patient care provided by PA students is done so under the supervision of the preceptor. Any student with questions regarding ethical and/or legal aspects of care being provided is encouraged to discuss such matters with the preceptor and/or DCE.
Preceptors, the DCE, and all Program faculty will strictly enforce standards for professional conduct across all clinical experiences and practice settings.
Failure to Meet Standards of Professional Conduct in Clinical Settings
When student behaviors during clerkships do not meet acceptable standards, depending on the nature and severity of the infraction, one or more of the following actions may be taken at the discretion of the Program:
- Preceptors may notify students of inappropriate behavior either orally or in writing. Such notification may take the form of verbal feedback, documentation in a site-specific critical incident report, and/or documentation as part of the student’s clinical performance evaluation. The clinical faculty will also notify the DCE who may take additional action.
- The DCE may issue a Notification of Concern to the student. If inappropriate behaviors are sufficiently grave or a second Notification of Concern is issued, the DCE will report the incident to the Student Development Committee for further action.
- Preceptors or Program faculty may require certain remedial actions on the part of the student as a contingency to continuing in the Program, returning to the clinic, or passing the clinical experience.
- The Preceptor, in consultation with the DCE, may choose to terminate a clerkship. At the discretion of the DCE, a grade of “F” may be assigned for any clerkship terminated for reasons of unacceptable behavior.
- The Student Development Committee may recommend termination of a student from the Program because of unacceptable conduct in the academic or clinical setting, following due process and written notification and documentation of the infraction. Students have the right to initiate grievance procedures for disciplinary action, according to the processes delineated in the Institute Catalog.