Attendance

Due to the intense nature and rapid pace of the curriculum, attendance for all classes and required activities within the Department of Physician Assistant Studies is mandatory. Students are expected to be on time for class and should plan their schedules accordingly. Failure to arrive on time is considered a professionalism violation and a pattern of late arrival may result in a meeting with the APPC. Please try to schedule medical and personal appointments around the class schedule as much as possible.

The PA program strives to prepare students for professional practice. To this end, the program uses the type of personal time off (PTO) model often found in healthcare settings to manage student time away from the program. Attendance is mandatory for all aspects of the program; however, the program recognizes that circumstances arise that require brief absences regardless of the reason, including absences related to illness or health care. Thus, students are permitted a total of 10 (ten) days away from the program throughout the Didactic year. They are credited to the students in half day (4 hour) intervals. As life can be unpredictable, students are strongly advised to save their days for instances of contagious illness or other significant need. Please be aware that some courses are presented in a more compressed manner, and you should consider the effect of an absence from one of these classes on your acquisition of new material. Several rules govern the execution of this policy.

• With the exception of acute illness, students should request a day off at least 48 hours in advance of the planned absence.  Requests are made on the Department Resources page on Moodle or by using the link at the top of this page and are reviewed and approved by the APPC Chair. Students should also notify all current course directors of the absence via email.
• Unless a student is acutely ill, absences CANNOT be used on days when there are exams, quizzes, or labs; on a day that involves specialized instruction in areas such as ACLS testing or GYN/GU training; or on any day in which standardized patients (SPs) are involved in an activity; during the Fall II module in the didactic year or Call Back Weeks in the clinical year due to the unreproducible nature of the training required during these courses.
• Students may not use consecutive PTO days except in cases of acute illness. Students using more than 2 consecutive days due to illness must bring a note from their health care provider.
• Students are responsible to make up any work/content missed during their absence by communicating with fellow students and reviewing available online course materials.
• Instructors are not responsible for reviewing/re-teaching information taught on days missed by students.
• Instructors are not required to zoom/provide virtual content/record class periods missed.
• This policy does not accommodate partial-day absences. Any fraction of a day missed will count as a full day.
• Activities directly related to student government functions or student representation of the program (e.g., community service projects, PAEA Future Educator Fellowship, AAPA Leadership and Advocacy Summit) are exempt from this policy.
• Any other exception to this policy must be discussed in advance with the program director and approved before the formal absence request is submitted.
• Students with one unexcused absence will receive a professionalism warning. Students with a second unexcused absence will be placed on probation for unprofessional conduct.  A third unexcused absence will result in the student meeting with the APPC for consideration of dismissal.

If the absence request is for an ADA accommodated condition, the student should also notify Elon's Office of Academic Accommodations and Accessibility of the absence.

Student Bereavement Policy

In the event that a student experiences a death of an immediate family member or house-hold member, the student will be excused from class for funeral leave, subsequent bereavement, and/or travel considerations for up to three (3) consecutive business days. The student will communicate the need for leave to the APPC chair or Program Director and complete a student absence request. Upon notification of the absence the student will arrange to complete missed classroom work and each faculty member shall excuse the student from class according to this policy and provide an opportunity to complete missed exams, quizzes, and other required work. Ultimately, the student is responsible for all material covered in class and must work with each individual professor as soon as they return to complete any required work.

In the event that a death occurs to a family member or friend that is not specifically covered by the student bereavement policy, or more than three days are needed, students can communicate the circumstances to the APPC chair or Program Director to consider the request based on unique circumstances.

All absences due to illness, accident, bereavement or other unexpected personal or family events must be reported via e-mail or telephone to the chair of the Academic and Professional Progress Committee, or Program Director as soon as the student is aware that he/she may miss class time. All other absences that are not approved by the APPC Chair will be considered unexcused.

Process for requesting an absence:

1. Didactic students should fill out the absence request form found on Moodle.  In the clinical year, the form is submitted to the Director of Clinical Experiences through Exxat.

2. If the absence is approved by the APPC chair, the student is responsible for notifying the course directors or preceptor of the absence. The student will be responsible for making up any work missed during those courses.