Preceptor evaluations and faculty site visits at FIU

Two evaluations in every rotation

FIU's 2022 preceptor manual puts the student in charge here: you arrange for your preceptor to evaluate you at least twice per rotation, once at mid-rotation and once at the end. The form is Appendix C of the manual, and it belongs in the preceptor folder you hand over at the first meeting.

The current graduate handbook confirms that practicums are evaluated by both preceptor and faculty. FIU also posts an MSN Clinical Student Evaluation Tool on its clinicals and fieldwork page. That tool dates from 2010, so ask your course faculty which form your course uses this term.

Put both evaluation dates on the calendar when you set the rotation schedule. A mid-rotation evaluation that slips to week twelve of a sixteen-week term leaves almost no room to act on what it says.

Preparing for an observed day

A site visit is a look at how you work with patients. Treat it like any clinical day, with a few extra checks in the days before.

Before a faculty visit

• Confirm the date with your preceptor and your clinical faculty in one email thread
• Choose a day with a normal patient load, not a half day or an administrative day
• Bring your Typhon entries up to date and have the time sheet signed through the last clinical day
• Keep the preceptor folder and your learning objectives at hand so the faculty member can see what you are working on
• Ask your preceptor to set aside a few minutes to talk with the faculty member

Afterward, ask your clinical faculty which points to work on before the final evaluation, and share them with your preceptor. The Typhon page covers keeping the log current.

If a concern becomes a conduct issue

Skill concerns run through feedback and remediation. Conduct is a separate track, with fixed deadlines set out in FIU's graduate handbook. The 48-hour and 5-business-day windows are short, so read your FIU email daily during a rotation, as the handbook already requires.

1. Written warningUnprofessional conduct, which the handbook says includes starting clinicals without approval or a contract, leads first to a written warning. You have 48 hours to answer it in writing.
2. Clinical probationClinical probation follows, built around a written improvement plan. An appeal of the probation goes to the Graduate Nursing Department Chair and must be filed within 5 business days.
3. The outcomeA plan that fails can end in a failed course, removal from the rotation, or dismissal from the program.

Why FIU students choose us for this stretch

We place preceptors who agree up front to what FIU asks of them: a mid-rotation and a final evaluation, two observed faculty visits, contact from FIU faculty between visits, and a time sheet signed as the weeks go by. The evaluation load is part of the first conversation, so it never lands on them by surprise halfway through the term.

When a rotation is not working, we find you a stronger fit for the next practicum, and if a preceptor steps away mid-semester, we start the replacement search at once. Site and preceptor approval belongs to the Office of Clinical Education and your faculty; what we add is a request so complete and so closely matched to FIU's rules that it needs no second round. Start with the form below.