Preceptor & Capacity Definitions

Definitions for Clinical Education that include preceptors, clinical faculty, clinical experience locations, systems, partners, and organizational structure.

Preceptor and Capacity Definitions 

 

Definitions - Types of Preceptors 

• Preceptor/Clinical Faculty: The person who supervises and completes the evaluation for a student (e.g., the person the student will spend most of their time with on the rotation or the CCE experience). Must be board-certified in the specialty/rotation they are teaching. 

• Group or Service Preceptor/Clinical Faculty: The other preceptors the student will work with on group or service rotations, in addition to the Preceptor/Clinical Faculty (who supervises and completes the evaluation for the student), (e.g., clinical services (ER, Surgery, Hospitalists, etc.) or group practice preceptors). 

Definitions - Types of Adjunct Clinical Faculty and Other Preceptor Approvals 

• Credentialed Clinical Faculty/Preceptors: Any licensed health professional who applies to take an HCOM student on a rotation or CCE experience and who is approved by the Heritage College clinical department chairs for participation on a voluntary, unpaid, part-time basis in the role of clinical preceptor, to supervise students while they participate in clinical experiences. For all Credentialed Clinical Faculty, the application process must identify: 

• Rank: Academically credentialed faculty can receive formal courtesy appointments adhering to Ohio University's faculty classification system. The following Ranks are available to DO/MD, Licensed Healthcare Professionals, and Non-Physicians (PhD). 

  • Resident Instructors: Residents employed by HCOM-affiliated healthcare organizations may complete a shortened version of the preceptor application process. Residents are identified in Salesforce as such.  Residents are not credentialed and cannot serve as preceptors and, therefore, do not require approval from a Heritage College departmental chair or P&T Committee appointment. Resident instructors can complete the online application themselves, or HCOM staff can enter the information into Salesforce on their behalf, as taken from listings provided by program directors.  

  • Resident Clinical Instructors: A sub-group of resident instructors, these residents and fellows are from Heritage College-affiliated GME programs working with OFLA for professional development purposes.  The same parameters apply to Resident Instructors apply to these Residents. However, residents and fellows from Heritage College-affiliated GME programs working with OFLA who have meaningful and substantive experience teaching Heritage College medical students can apply for clinical instructor positions through the online application process. 

  • Clinical Assistant Professor: The Clinical Assistant professor is the standard entry-level rank (except for interns, residents, and fellows, as noted above). 

  • Clinical Associate Professor: A Clinical Associate Professor has received satisfactory evaluations from trainees for at least five consecutive years and has precepted at least three students. 

  • Clinical Professor: A Clinical Professor has received satisfactory evaluations from trainees for at least ten consecutive years and has precepted at least three students. 

• Approved Clinical Faculty/Preceptor: Refers to a preceptor who must acquire approval and is not academically credentialed by HCOM. This category is not eligible for Rank/Title unless that title is part of an existing paid HCOM contract. HCOM will use this category for the following scenarios: 

  • Clinical Instructor: 

    • An approved Non-Licensed Clinical Faculty/Preceptor is: 

      • a community-based, non-healthcare “preceptor” used for community-based CCEs. 

    • An approved Licensed Clinical Faculty/Preceptor is: 

      • a preceptor who wants to teach but does not want an official academic appointment or practices/resides out-of-state or out-of-country does not need to complete the academic appointment process. 

      • a preceptor who has appointments with other Colleges of Medicine and cannot hold multiple Adjunct Clinical Faculty titles. 

      • a preceptor whose employment prohibits the healthcare provider, either through a contract with the healthcare provider or as part of the clinical appointment terms, from receiving an academic appointment from any other educational institution. 

Definitions - Types of Clinical Experience Sites and Systems 

• Health System: A network of healthcare organizations that collaborate through a partnership agreement, typically involving contractual arrangements, to facilitate the placement of medical students for educational experiences such as rotations. 

• Practice Name: The official title or designation of a healthcare facility, such as a hospital, clinic, or medical practice, where medical students undertake rotations or clinical education experiences. 

  • Practice Address: The physical location where a medical student completes a rotation or clinical education experience. This may include the specific address of a healthcare professional practice, hospital, or community-based organization. 

  • Hospital or Health Systems that owns a practice: The name of the hospital entity that owns a medical practice, if relevant. This designation indicates a relationship between the hospital and medical practice, potentially influencing administration, resources, and services. 

Definitions - Types of Agreements and Contracts with Health Organizations/Partners 

OVERSIGHT FOR PRECEPTORS FOR STUDENT EXPERIENCES 

• Affiliation Agreement: A three-to-five-year contract that establishes obligations of a healthcare site or system and of HCOM/Ohio University that includes all the requirements of healthcare organizations and Ohio University for compliance, accreditation, and risk factors. 

  • Requirements include but are not limited to Clinical site rotation, applicable legal or accreditation requirements, organizational insurance coverage, conditions the student must meet (immunizations, background checks), and ID contacts at organizations. 

  • Affiliation Agreements do not identify specific rotations or preceptors. 

  • Note: When year four students request rotations, we must have an affiliation agreement before the start of the rotation. 

RELATIONSHIP TYPES 

• Educational Affiliate Administrative Support Agreement (aka Clinical Site Agreement): A 2-year contract between a healthcare organization and Ohio University to pay for services provided by the healthcare organization to support and facilitate clinical rotations and experiences. An addendum lays out specific service obligations and payments. 

  • Requirements include the number of students who will have all required rotations managed by the healthcare organization, and the corresponding annual payment to the healthcare organization is defined. This agreement outlines the roles and responsibilities of the healthcare organization’s identified Director of Student Medical Education (DSME) and the Coordinator of Student Medical Education (CSME). 

• Organizational Affiliation Agreement (aka Premier Partner): This is an agreement by the university with a healthcare system to formally collaborate on programs, initiatives, or resources for a common or mutually beneficial purpose. It can be any length, but HCOM’s Dean Johnson wants a 25-year agreement. It can include areas related to clinical education, community health, research, and other university college programs. The president of the university must sign it. 

• Organizational Affiliation Agreement (aka Key Affiliate): These are the other tiers of an agreement with a health system. 

Definitions - Organizational Structure Terminology 

• Division: A grouping used for administrative purposes to show which academic campuses and units belong to that division, managed by Division Directors. 

• Campus: The Academic Campus that aligns with a particular Division or Unit. 

• Unit: A unit is a geographic unit that clinical education cohort sites align to CADs. 

• Clinical Education Cohort Sites: The training site to which an HCOM student is assigned via the Clinical Education Site Assignment Processes (CESAP) or campus-specific process to complete their year 3 and 4 curriculum. 

  • Note: Programs are additional curricular or co-curricular requirements (TCC, Co-Author, LIC-FM, RUSP, & SP Medical Home, etc.) for certain students within various Cohorts. 

  • Note: Programs will no longer be considered Clinical Education Cohort Sites starting in AY 24-25 

 

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