Clinical Placement Details

The Clinical Placement Agreement is a legal agreement between the University and your placement site that allows you and your preceptor to conduct your RNFA clinical placement at the site you have chosen.

Although the University of Rochester does not require a formal Clinical Placement Agreement for students who are employed at their clinical site, many clinical sites will still require a Clinical Placement Agreement regardless of employment status. 

If an agreement is required by the clinical site, we must work with hospital administration to put an agreement together, even if your preceptor and your OR are supportive of your clinical placement. 

The Clinical Placement Agreement typically covers:

• Liability
• Insurance
• Process and requirements for each student to be approved for a placement
• Responsibilities of both the clinical site and the school

The agreement is generally signed by a high-level executive at the institution, such as the president, CEO, or chief nursing officer.

We currently have placement agreements with most large hospital systems in Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse. We may have to start an agreement process with other hospitals, and this is a process that can take anywhere from 6 weeks to one year. It is not guaranteed that an agreement can be reached for all sites.

We can begin the process as soon as an application is submitted. To help expedite this process, we recommend you submit your application as soon as possible and help facilitate by identifying the correct contact at your institution (see below).

Students without placement agreements at the application deadline will be placed on a waitlist or offered the option to defer their application to the next cycle while we work on the agreement.

How do I help with this process?

The single most important thing you can do is to ensure you provide us with the correct contact at your institution. It is normally one of the following offices:

• Nursing Education Office
• Clinical Placement Office
• Legal affairs
• Medical Staff Office

In addition, please ensure you have the support of the Operating Room Nurse Manager, who must approve clinical placements at many sites. 

To help facilitate, you may also want to keep in contact with your institution's office and the nurse manager.