Assignment of Clinical Rotations

• The first priority when assigning rotations is to ensure that every student meets the educational objectives of the clinical year without delay of program completion
• Rotation assignments are always contingent upon the availability of a particular rotation site at any given point in time and the Director of Clinical Education’s prior approval of the rotation.
• Students are not guaranteed placement within a 60-mile radius of Elon University (our definition of “local”), at a specific site, their hometown, or their home state.
• Each student may be required to travel for clinical education experiences. We realize the potential for added cost and stress. However, it is the student’s responsibility to be prepared emotionally, physically, and financially for re-location to another geographical area for each clinical experience.
• Students are responsible for their own transportation to and from clinical sites and for housing and other living expenses during the seven clinical education experiences.
• When the clinical rotation schedule has been published and released to students, the rotation placements should not change unless approved by the Director of Clinical Education. The Director of Clinical Education reserves the right to change student rotation schedules at any time in order to ensure that the educational requirements of the clinical year are met.
• The order in which you complete your rotations has no impact on the quality of your clinical education.
• Students are NOT permitted to sign any forms or contracts on behalf of the DPAS or the Director of Clinical Education.
• Students are not required to provide or solicit preceptors or clinical sites for rotations.
  • Requests for clinical sites not currently used by the DPAS or requests for selective rotations are communicated to the Clinical Education Team through email.
  • Requests should be submitted to the Clinical Education Team as early in the academic year as possible so that there is adequate time given for review and evaluation of educational suitability, as well as availability of the site and preceptor to take a student for rotation, along with consideration to timelines for contract implementation, stipend negotiations and implementation of liability coverage.
  • Students should not “REQUEST” rotations from sites without talking to the Director of Clinical Education in advance.
  • Once an initial request/contact has been made, the Director of Clinical Education and Clinical Education Specialist will take over the process.
  • Approval of rotation requests is contingent upon the educational value of the rotation, the student’s academic and clinical performance, and the student’s history of compliance with the policies and procedures of the clinical phase.The willingness of a preceptor to give students access to his/her patients for clinical training and to provide students with an end-of-rotation evaluation are other important factors considered when evaluating students’ individual rotation requests.
  • Student request for clinical site does not guarantee placement in the site. Every effort will be made to accommodate requests for locations for clinical rotations; however, there can be no guarantee that all requests will be granted.
  • Students will not be permitted to go on any rotations for which all appropriate agreements and credentialing have not been obtained in advance of the proposed start date.
  • Students cannot be placed in sites with family members/close friends, significant others to avoid nepotism.
• For the selective rotation, student’s request should be made by mid-year of the clinical phase.The Director of Clinical Education will send a communication when it is time. The same rules apply as above.
• The Director of Clinical Education will not knowingly place a student at sites where that individual student has a family member or relative employed as an MD, DO, PA or NP, or where there are any other potential conflicts of interest.
• International rotations will only be considered for the selective rotation and must be in locations where the Program has affiliation agreements and preceptor supervision.
  • Due to the extensive preparation needed in order to make arrangements for these rotations, students should notify the Director of Clinical Education of their intention to seek an international rotation before the clinical phase of education begins and work closely with the Clinical Education Team in securing the appropriate documentation and permissions.
  • In addition to the affiliation agreement, arrangements must be made for housing, CDC recommended immunizations for the host country, passport and visas, travel, international health, and evacuation insurance, etc.
  • All expenses incurred for international rotations are the responsibility of the student. Students will not be allowed to travel to any international rotations without all appropriate documentation.
  • If students are interested in an International Rotation as an Elective, then students will need to contact the Director of Clinical Education. Students may also reference Global Learning Opportunities on the Elon Health Sciences website.
• It is advised that students read the Affiliation Agreement associated with each rotation site to fully understand the expectations and requirements of all parties involved. Affiliation Agreements are accessible in Exxat, the clinical education platform utilized by DPAS.
• The student’s requirements for each rotation are listed in Exxat, most of which list a stipend amount. The stipend is paid by the DPAS (not the student) to the site or preceptor.