PARAMEDIC CLINICAL SCHEDULING
Treasure Valley Paramedic Student Placements
OPERATING GUIDELINES
Statement of Purpose
The Paramedic Clinical Scheduling work group is organized to:
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develop and implement a regional clinical placement planning process that facilitates and
expands clinical placement opportunities.
encourage discussion among faculty of schools and departments of paramedic and
clinical agencies about issues related to clinical placement and practice.
maintain open lines of communication and goals for the benefit clinical agencies and
paramedic schools.
Article 1
Membership
Section 1. Membership of Paramedic Clinical Scheduling includes representatives from
schools/departments of paramedic science and clinical agencies in the Treasure Valley area of
Idaho:
Education Partners
College of Western Idaho
IDHW, EMS Bureau
Guardian College
Idaho State University - Kasiska School of Health
Professions, Paramedic Science Program
Idaho Center of Emergency Medical Training
Clinical Partners
Elk’s Rehabilitation Center
Complex Care Hospital of Idaho
Saint Alphonsus Health System
(Boise, Eagle, Nampa)
Saint Luke’s Health System
(Boise, Meridian, Nampa)
Veteran’s Administration Medical Center
Walter Knox Memorial Hospital
West Valley Medical Center
Section 2. Members are defined as those who are in keeping with the purpose and function of the
organization and are open to all area-wide clinical agencies of the Treasure Valley.
Sections 3. Schools/Departments of Paramedic Studies and Clinical Facilities can be represented
by more than one member.
Section 4. Meetings are open to the public. Guests/non-members wishing to attend are asked to
notify the Paramedic Clinical Scheduling Coordinator in advance of the meeting so that
appropriate arrangements can be made. The number of guests attending a specific meeting may
need to be limited based on room arrangements. The Paramedic Clinical Scheduling Coordinator
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may request the membership to approve a closed meeting as deemed necessary to accomplish a
specific task.
Section 5. Each member is connected via a group E-mail list for the purpose of communication
common interests and facilitating the distribution of meeting minutes and agendas.
ARTICLE II
Meetings of Members
Section 1. Meetings are held on a twice per year. Special group meetings are held as necessary
to accomplish the goal assigned by the whole committee.
Section 2. Agenda for the meeting is distributed per email by the Paramedic Clinical Scheduling
Coordinator prior to the scheduled meeting.
Section 3. Decisions are made by consensus of the members attending the general meeting.
ARTICLE III
Officials
Section 1. The business of Paramedic Clinical Scheduling will be coordinated by a Coordinator
and Secretary. The Coordinator and Secretary will be appointed by the Idaho State University
Paramedic Science Program as the host agency.
Section 2. Duties of the Coordinator:
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Liaison with schools of paramedic and clinical facilities to maximize clinical placements
and facilitate communication.
Coordinate clinical placements.
Preside at the Paramedic Clinical Scheduling meetings
Develop each meeting’s agenda
Ensure that copies of the agenda and minutes are maintained in the permanent record file
of Paramedic Clinical Scheduling, housed at Idaho State University, and that copies are
sent to members prior to each meeting
Direct and facilitate sub-committee work
Secretary:
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Notify Paramedic Clinical Scheduling members of meeting times and locations per email
Send invitations to new members re: meeting times and locations of the Paramedic
Clinical Scheduling general meeting
Take minutes during the meetings
Forward minutes to the Coordinator for review and facilitate distribution of minutes to
Paramedic Clinical Scheduling members.
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ARTICLE IV
Committees
Section 1. Committee assignments and membership will be arranged as necessary to complete
the business of Paramedic Clinical Scheduling and by consensus of the membership of
Paramedic Clinical Scheduling.
Section 2. Committee membership will be arranged by the consensus of the membership of
Paramedic Clinical Scheduling on a volunteer basis.
ARTICLE V
Finances
Section 1. Financial obligation for the Paramedic Clinical Scheduling Coordinator is the
responsibility of Idaho State University Department of Paramedic Science until such time a
neutral Coordinator is deemed necessary by Paramedic Clinical Scheduling.
Section 2. Each agency will incur responsibility for the expenses of their member/s.
ARTICLE VI
Clinical Placements
Section 1. Schools/Departments of Paramedic that have used a clinical facility unit during the
previous semester will be given first option to use that facility unit for the new semester. If
several schools need a similar clinical facility unit, the schools need to speak school to school.
The Coordinator will notify the schools of the potential conflict. If needed, a meeting will be set
up by the Coordinator with the schools and the clinical facility’s education coordinator for
resolution of the potential conflict.
Section 2. Clinical placements not appearing on the website must be cleared by the facility’s
education coordinator. When agreement is reached, the Paramedic Clinical Scheduling
Coordinator must be notified for placement on the website.
Section 3. Any discussion between a clinical facility and school representatives should refer to
the specifics of the placement (site, dates, school) found on website.
Section 4. All changes to the website database and new requests to be added to the database must
be submitted to the hospital representative as an email attachment. Only hospital representatives
approve changes to the website database as they relate to their own hospitals. The hospital
representative will forward all approved changes and new requests on a as an email attachment
to the Paramedic Clinical Scheduling Coordinator.
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Section 4.1. Download the Data Entry Grid from www.isu.edu/kasiska/paramedic/. Click on
Paramedic Clinical Scheduling, then on Schedules, then find the correct semester (i.e. Fall,
2007).
Section 4.2 The e-mail should include:
a) Facility Name
b) Unit to be used in facility
c) Name of School
d) Class Number
e) Class Name
f) Facility Name
g) Use MM/DD/YEAR – MM/DD/YEAR in Dates column
h) For corrections to an existing school or facility schedule, list only the school or facility and the
cell to be corrected.
i) For placements that will not be used, enter all the cells and type “Open” in the school column.
Section 4.3 Schools should send the electronic copy to the clinical facility representative asking
for confirmation that the new placement/corrections/changes have been approved at least 2
weeks prior to the scheduled Paramedic Clinical Scheduling meeting.
Section 4.4 The clinical facility representative forwards the approved electronic copy to the
Paramedic Clinical Scheduling Coordinator. Please cc: the school/department of Paramedic
representative on the confirming email as confirmation that their new
placements/corrections/changes have been approved.
Section 4.5 All requests/corrections/changes must go through the school/department of
Paramedic and the clinical facility representative. The clinical facility representative will contact
the unit managers. Faculty should not contact the facility units with requests.
Section 5. Errors of interpretation fall on the paramedic school and they should carefully review
database placements prior to the start of each term/semester, and clarify any concerns with the
clinical facility representative and Paramedic Clinical Scheduling Coordinator.
Section 6. Clinical facilities will honor commitments (to the fullest extent possible) made to the
schools/departments of Paramedics in the negotiations process. If a clinical facility will not be
receiving students for a particular term/semester, those decisions should be made as far in
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advance as possible and all schools/departments of paramedic science that will be affected
notified.
Section 7. If a clinical facility chooses to deny a negotiated placement, the clinical facility is
responsible (to the fullest extent possible) for finding a suitable replacement placement within
the clinical facilities system.
Section 8. All negotiated clinical placements should be forwarded to the Paramedic Clinical
Scheduling coordinator for inclusion on the grid, whether the placements are at facilities actively
participating in Paramedic Clinical Scheduling or not.
Section 8.1 Schools must communicate with community clinical facility units that do not have a
representative with Paramedic Clinical Scheduling. Schools then will inform the Clinical
Coordinator of that planned clinical experience. Contractual agreements are the responsibility of
the school.
Section 8.2 The planned clinical experience will be placed on the website. The Clinical
Coordinator will need the same information as listed in Section 4.2.
Section 9. For precepted clinical placements that already appear on the grid as approved
placements, schools of Paramedic will notify clinical facilities with the student information
approximately one month prior to the start of the rotation. It is the goal that clinical facilities will
respond within two weeks with the details of the precepted experience (name of preceptor, shift
hour/days of the week, etc.).
Section 9.1 Clinical facilities will let the schools know if student orientation requirements are
beyond the normal orientation requirements for clinical experiences. If the school has not heard
within this period from the clinical facilities, schools will need to notify the specific Paramedic
Clinical Scheduling member for assistance.
Section 9.2 Precepted students should follow the schedule of the assigned preceptor paramedic. It
is beneficial for preceptorships to be scheduled on “off shifts and days.”
Section 10. To ensure an accurate clinical schedule, schools will update the Clinical Coordinator
at each clinical facility with the total number of students, clinical faculty, and student
assignments at least 2 weeks prior to the start of each clinical rotation.
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