Clinical Planning Glossary of Terms

Academic advisors (located within the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing Office of Student Affairs) and student success coordinators (associated with UC Online programs) support students throughout their educational journey, serving as a resource to help students achieve their personal academic and career goals.

An adjunct faculty is an instructor in the course who supports the lead faculty. 

Affiliates officially associate as a member or connect a subsidiary group or a person to an organization, i.e. as a clinical site to the university.

Clinical course faculty are licensed or certified professionals whose primary responsibility involves teaching students in both academic and clinical settings. Their professional experience and expertise over a sustained period of time allows them to be qualified to teach or manage practicum, internship, or practice components of degree programs.

A clinical site coordinator is responsible for overseeing the clinical coordination process, ensuring that preceptors and sites are appropriately vetted and approved. Clinical site coordinators work directly with a number of stakeholders, including students, preceptors, clinical course faculty, program directors and fellow staff members throughout the university.

Health care compliance is the process of following rules, regulations, and laws, related to health care practices. In health care, it routinely refers to completing all assigned trainings (i.e. HIPAA, BBP, FERPA, etc.), obtaining vaccinations and submitting required documentation.

A contract is a binding agreement between two or more persons or parties: one that is legally enforceable. From a clinical placement perspective, a contract could be established between a health care organization and the university.

All students admitted to the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing are required to provide documentation verifying completion of specific requirements referred to as critical requirements. These requirements are mandated for all health care providers and health profession students. Critical requirements include background checks, drug screenings and health clearance verifications.

An educational affiliation agreement (EAA) is a written arrangement between a university and another entity for purposes of providing an educational opportunity for students generally in a supervisory situation such as clinical experience.

eMedley is a web-based clinical evaluation system designed to manage, collate, and analyze our curriculum, student evaluations of our curriculum and its faculty (preceptor) evaluations of our students.

A preceptor is a practicing expert or specialist, such as a NP or physician, who gives personal instruction, training and supervision to a student.

The Preceptor Application is an acknowledged agreement between the preceptor and the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing to serve as a preceptor for a graduate nursing student. By completing the Preceptor Application, the preceptor acknowledges that they meet the outlined qualifications to serve as a preceptor and will adhere to the requirements of serving as a preceptor. Depending on the organization in which the preceptor works, additional documentation (see contracts) might be required in order for the student to be able to engage in a precepted clinical activity within an organization. The student is expected to take an active role in ensuring the completion of the Preceptor Application.

A program director is the primary program contact. They are responsible for providing leadership and oversight of the program.

A Satisfactory Progress (SP) Grade is an option when a student has not fully met the requirements for a clinical course; often given if the student is still working on clinical hours or course work. This allows the student to continue to work in the clinical environment.