Practice placement learning comprises approximately 50% of the Physician Associate course. A minimum of 1600 hours of clinical practice is required in order to be eligible to qualify as a Physician Associate.
Students must attend the clinical placement for the whole period that they have been allocated to their placements. Students must be present for the whole day/shift on all dates assigned to them by their placement provider.
Attendance is recorded and verified by the Medical Supervisor. Placement experience is not restricted to normal working hours and can incorporate evening, night and weekend work and may include hours on the out-of-hours rota. Students may work on nights and weekends by agreement with and if fully supported by their Supervisor.
We anticipate that students will attend placement for 37.5-40 hours per week as standard. If students attend for the full 37.5 hours on full weeks of placement, including the elective placement, it should be possible to achieve 1650 hours of attendance across the programme.
The student must inform the placement provider and the University of any sickness/absence before they are due on duty and this will be recorded in the Record of Practice. In order to meet the required clinical practice hours, 100% attendance is required. Students will have to make up any shortfall in their placement attendance hours to achieve the 1600 hours required to qualify as a Physician Associate. Students may be able to make up placement hours with the agreement of the Medical Supervisor by working out-of-hours, subject to working in accordance with the Working Time Directive. You may be required to make up time during planned holiday weeks if you are not able to make up time during out-of-hours time.
Please also read the advice on the Working Time Directive, available in the policy library on this site. This gives important information about the total number of hours you may work in a week.
Reporting Absence
It is essential that students report sickness absence as soon as possible when you know that you will be unable to attend your placement. You can find guidance on reporting absence under the Student Support/Attendance and Absence tab in the Placement Information section on this site.
