ACADEMIC STANDARDS and POLICIES

The following are policies for College of the Redwoods LVN and RN students.  These policies apply to all students in every semester of the two nursing programs.  In addition further directives may be instituted by individual clinical agency policies.

Attendance

In accordance with the College of the Redwoods Student Responsibilities listed in the College Catalog regular attendance in nursing program lectures, labs and clinical sessions promotes success in course work therefore students are expected to attend ALL sessions of each class in which they are enrolled.  Absences are permitted only in unavoidable emergencies.  Students are responsible for all missed content and assignments.

Classroom attendance:

Attendance will be recorded at all nursing class lectures.  Individual student participation is required.  Tardiness, arriving more than ten minutes late to class, leaving before the scheduled end of class, and/or excessive absences compromise student success.

Lab attendance:

Unavoidable absence in excess of one week from College laboratory classes requires that students submit a Petition to Continue form (Appendix B) identifying activities to replace the missed learning experiences.  Full participation in lab experience promotes preparedness for clinical practice, clinical learning and program success.

Clinical Attendance:

Unavoidable clinical absences in excess of one week for the entire semester require that students submit a Petition to Continue form (Appendix B)  identifying alternate activities to replace the missed clinical learning.  Course faculty must approve the alternate learning.  Any absence may jeopardize a student’s ability to satisfactorily complete clinical objectives of a rotation.  Course specific attendance requirements are delineated in the course syllabus.

Permission from the health care provider to return to clinical practice is required for any student experiencing a change in health status e.g. communicable disease, surgery, cardiovascular complications, pregnancy etc. or who has experienced an acute injury or emergency e.g. heart attack, accident, psychiatric crisis.

The program expectation is that students report on duty and are ready for clinical responsibilities at the scheduled clinical time.  In the event of unavoidable absence from the clinical area, the student must notify the clinical agency at least one hour prior to the scheduled clinical time as described in the agency’s guidelines and those of the instructor.   Each clinical lab instructor will provide additional instructions for notifying faculty of absences.