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SECTION II: Policies and Procedures for all Students

Attendance

Class attendance, including synchronous virtual class sessions, is strongly encouraged and may be required by some faculty. Faculty may assign a grade to students' class participation. Assigned clinical and lab experiences are required. ABSN students are expected to arrive 15 minutes early for exams. Late arrival to exams is distracting and is not permitted. Students must take examinations at the scheduled time. If a family emergency occurs, students must notify the instructor within 24 hours of the scheduled exam.

Anticipated absences are to be approved by the faculty member. If unable to fulfill clinical responsibilities because of illness or an emergency, the student is expected to notify the responsible person at the clinical site as soon as possible so that alternative provisions for care can be made.

Each student is responsible for meeting the educational obligations of course requirements, whether for classes or clinical/lab experiences, and for making the necessary arrangements with faculty members for fulfilling these obligations.

Nursing students are covered by the same NYS regulations as nurses and other healthcare workers regarding “fitness to work.” The NYS regulation wording is that they must be “…free from a health impairment which is of potential risk to the patient, or which might interfere with the performance of his/her duties…” After an injury or surgery, each student's situation is considered based on both patient safety and the safety of the student. Students should inform their course coordinator(s) and Program Director(s) of any such health issues. The Program Directors, the University Health Service, and the clinical unit leadership may all be involved in determining a return to clinical.

After any illness caused by an infectious disease, a student must obtain clearance from the University Health Service (UHS) prior to resuming class and clinical activities. This is necessary whether the student is under the care of UHS or a health care provider (e.g., nurse practitioner, physician) not associated with UHS.

Military Duty Link to section

The University of Rochester School of Nursing recognizes and appreciates the important contributions made in service to their country by active duty, Reserve, and National Guard members and their dependents. Faculty will work to accommodate situations where unexpected training/drill, deployment, or change-of-station orders may impact course attendance and assignment completion. Students who are deployed active-duty military, Reserve, and/or National Guard personnel and require accommodation should contact their instructor(s) and advisor as soon as possible to make related arrangements.

  • For any training/drill, deployment, or change-of-station orders: Students will attempt to make arrangements with instructors to maintain and/or make up classwork as needed. Registration for those courses in which instructors accommodate the absence will remain unchanged, and tuition and mandatory fees will be assessed in full for those courses. Service members should provide instructors with maximum advance notice of absences, as well as copies of training/drill, deployment, and/or change-of-station directives from the military, Reserve, or National Guard.

  • Instructors will work with students wherever possible to assign grades as appropriate (including incompletes for work to be made up later).

  • Instructors must accommodate absences of up to two weeks in duration.

  • When unable to make arrangements for successful course completion, notify the SON Registrar: Course(s) will be dropped and the tuition/fees for the course(s) will be rescinded.

  • When unable to make arrangements for unexpected orders requiring longer than a two-week absence, notify the SON Registrar: The student's entire registration will be withdrawn or canceled and 100% of the tuition/fees will be rescinded.

Religious Observance and Holidays Link to section

In compliance with New York State Education Law 224-a, the School of Nursing of the University of Rochester will provide reasonable accommodation for absences of students required due to observation of religious beliefs. The School of Nursing has adopted the following statement regarding respect for students’ religious beliefs: “As provided in New York Education Law Section 224-a, each student who is absent from school (including registration for classes, attendance at classes or an inability to take exams on certain days) because of their religious beliefs will be given an equivalent opportunity to register for class or make up any exam, study or work requirements they may have missed because of such absence for religious observation, without penalties or additional fees.”

If the requested accommodations may result in students not participating in required educational experiences, the appropriate Associate Dean (see Organization of the School of Nursing) in conjunction with the involved Program Directors and Course Faculty, will evaluate the reasonableness of the requested accommodations. Granting such cannot substantially alter the depth and integrity of the educational requirements for University of Rochester nursing students. In addition, documentation may be required to demonstrate the nature, extent, and duration of the religious observance that will require the student’s absence.

Any student who anticipates absences (including clinical absences) from scheduled educational activities due to religious observances should, to the extent possible, provide advance written notification to the program director of the anticipated days of absence NO LATER THAN TWO WEEKS FOLLOWING MATRICULATION. However, approval for an absence will not be able to be considered if the accommodation request is not made at least 10 days prior to the day/days of religious observance.

Students are also encouraged to discuss their anticipated absences with their course faculty and/or advisor. There are no classes held on Martin Luther King Day and Juneteenth.