Attendance

  1. Students must attend clinicals. Students should notify their clinical faculty (who will notify the course coordinator) if he/she is ill. If a student misses two or more clinical days, the student will fail the course.
  2. Varsity sport games, ROTC, medically documented events, and family deaths – are the ONLY instances where there is an exception to the Attendance Policy. All exceptions must be authenticated by submission of a written note:
    1. Coach’s letter (on Catholic University letterhead) to faculty
    2. ROTC instructor letter (on appropriate letterhead) to faculty
    3. Health care provider note with readable, valid address and certificate of illness (dates included) must be provided prior to taking the makeup examination
    4. Letter of attestation or death notice from student regarding family death
    5. Students must provide these documents to the clinical instructor
    6. If hospitalized, a student needs to submit certificate of Clinical Readiness prior to returning to the clinical area
    7. All clinical hours need to be made up using the scheduled clinical make up days.
  3. All clinical requirements need to be handed in by stated deadlines. If this is not done, the student may not attend clinical, will receive an Academic Warning, and will need to make up the clinical hours. Such circumstances will be counted as one clinical absence for each course.
  4. Under no circumstance should students plan trips or other engagements prior to or immediately following scheduled holidays or breaks. Students are expected to be in attendance unless there is an official Catholic University holiday or recess.
  5. In accordance with professional behavior, it is expected that all students will arrive to clinicals on time. Students should place all cell phones and other handheld devices on silent and place them in their pocket or purse. Students must notify their clinical faculty if they are expecting an emergency phone call and need their phone accessible. Use of phones in patient care areas will result in an Academic Warning and possible clinical failure.
  6. Due to the competitive nature of clinical settings in the DMV area, students are not able to request their clinical placements and should expect to have weekend clinical placements.