Clinical/Field Rotations
In addition to the required 110 hours of instruction, this course requires that the student have patient interactions in a clinical setting. Ideally, areas that have access to an Emergency Medical Services system should send students into the field with experienced preceptors. However, in low volume systems or systems with legal considerations, the training program may utilize emergency departments, clinics, or physician offices. The program director or medical director must establish appropriate relationships with various clinical sites to assure adequate contact with patients.
The student should interview and assess a minimum of five patients. The student should record the patient history and assessment on a prehospital care report just as he would if he were interacting with this patient in a field setting. The prehospital care report should then be reviewed by the Primary Instructor to assure competent documentation practices in accordance with the minimum data set. Regardless of the clinical educational system, the program must establish a feedback system to assure that students have acted safely and professionally during their training. Students should be graded on this experience.
Students who have been reported to have difficulty in the clinical or field setting must receive remediation and redirection. Students should be required to repeat clinical or field setting experiences until they are deemed competent within the goals established by the Program Director.
In extreme cases, when students are not able to obtain experiences in a clinical or field setting, it may be necessary to utilize programmed patients. All variances must be approved by the state EMS office or licensing agency.
