Preparing to host a student is a multi-faceted task. At this point you will have already determined what school you will be hiring a student from; or, if you are hiring a student independently, you will have already posted a job description, started the interview process and be ready to hire the student of choice. Now is the time to prepare to host the student in your environment.
Enrol your team to participate in/send a student to an orientation session:
This may be in person or via webinar, depending on timing and number/location of students. AFHTO may host session(s) to provide EMR basics and build familiarity with the work of health teams. Timing of the sessions will be determined by the start date of the placement and the need from our members. You may also have orientation programs already in your teams and we encourage you to provide an orientation session for your student. Should you wish AFHTO to host a session, please contact Catherine Macdonald.
Prepare to host the student
Complete the following administrative duties for the student:
- A letter or e-mail of introduction outlining when the student will start their term, where to meet the person who will be introducing them and your organizations policies such as sick days, dress code etc. An example of an e-mail and/or letter has been provided in Appendix G. (Thank you to the Queens Family Health Team for providing their example)
- Complete payroll information
- Arrange for physical space
- Prepare introductions to clinical and clerical staff – Internally you will want to let your team know a student will be joining you, when that person is starting, and what that person’s duties will be. (ie asking them to do photocopying for the whole office is not a good use of their skillset). This introduction should also include who the student will be reporting too and who will be providing guidance and work assignments.
- Arrange for access to EMR/charts. – If the student is to be working within your EMR they will need their own ID and Password as well as authorization to view files.
- Confidentiality agreements See Appendix C for a sample confidentiality agreement to sign.
Onsite Orientation of Student
- Introduce the student to staff. – Take the student around to meet everyone in the office. This will give them a face to face introduction and allow them to determine who does what. It will also give them the layout of the office.
- Provide written instructions – review with the student what was outlined in their initial letter, any agreements they need to sign and outline their duties. This will allow the student to ask any questions prior to getting started.
- Set goals – you will have already decided what the student will be doing and setting realistic goals is important. That way the student understands what is expected of them and will provide a framework to measure their work. A review of the goals is recommended part way through the placement and then again at the end of the placement.
- Provide instructions to student – see Appendix F for an example of a Student Handbook courtesy of North York Family Health Team. You will want to create your own documentation as each practice will have their own policies and each EMR will have different commands and rules. Below is an example of a Table of Contents to help you fill in the blanks for your organization.
Student Handbook Contents Outline
Introduction – Before You Start …..Orientation to your team members …..Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Possible Activities for student: …..Roster Management …..Chronic Disease Prevention and Management ………..Risk factor standardization (tobacco, alcohol, etc) ………..Coding chronic diseases ………..Updating billing registries ………..Preventative reminders ………..Coding family history …..Procedure documentation cleaning …..Referral management …..Phonebook cleaning and update …..Using data from Cancer Care Ontario
“Pre” Data Extraction from EMR
Do “pre” data extraction from EMR: This will ensure your ability to demonstrate progress and the benefit of the student work. This is highly recommended as an important first step to ensure that you have a baseline of what was originally in the EMR to compare to what was changed by the student. Here is an example for diabetes tracking. It is a “pre” data extraction form that would make it possible to evaluate the impact of the student’s work on data quality.
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