MHSA - Clinical Preceptor Resources

Becoming a Clinical Preceptor

The Mission of the VCOM-Bluefield Master of Health Science in Anesthesia Program is to educate Anesthesiologist Assistants to provide comprehensive quality anesthesia care to all, to be respectful of patient values, to be committed to ethical principles, and to be grounded in evidence-based practice and clinical reasoning. Graduates will contribute to the profession and their communities and be prepared to practice medicine in a variety of perioperative settings under the supervision of physician anesthesiologists. Graduates will be dedicated to the service of medically underserved communities and diverse patient populations.

Clinical Preceptors are faculty members within the Anesthesiologist Assistant Program overseen by the Department of Clinical Affairs. The Medical Directors of the Master of Health Science in Anesthesia Program help ensure the provision of a high-caliber clinical education and are involved in the development and delivery of curriculum in both the Foundation and Integrative years. To ensure a high-quality, standardized clinical rotation curriculum, the Medical Directors work with the Program Faculty to develop clerkship objectives, required textbooks, clinical cases to enhance student learning, supplemental instructional videos, an online syllabus, and comprehensive exams during each block. This standardized curriculum ensures that all students, regardless of the geographic location of their clinical rotation, will have completed the same clinical objectives and didactic lessons. At primary core rotation facilities or geographic locations, additional support for clinical education is provided in the form of a Director of Anesthesia Student Education.

The academic and administrative support provided by the MH.Sc. in Anesthesia Program, coupled with a well-established didactic curriculum including objectives, reading assignments, online cases, and standardized end-of-block comprehensive exams, ensures that all precepting clinical faculty are free to focus on perioperative clinical teaching rather than having to develop an individual curriculum or didactic components at their clinical site.

The Program Director and Medical Directors monitor the variety of cases the students participate in through patient encounters and clinical procedure logs. The Director of Clinical Education and/or Medical Directors will meet with core clinical faculty annually to provide them with student feedback as well as to provide the clinical faculty member the opportunity to make suggestions to improve the curriculum, the rotation experience, and the preparedness of students as a whole. Clinical faculty complete student evaluations at the end of each rotation period which are made simple through a standardized evaluation form that evaluates students on very specific components in areas of required core competencies. These forms can be completed online to make the process even easier for faculty.

Becoming a Clinical Preceptor

Those interested in clinical faculty appointment must be referred to the MHSA Program through either the appropriate faculty, the Medical Directors, current clinical faculty members, or the appropriate Clinical Site Coordinator.

Interested physicians or anesthetists are required to submit the following documents:

1. Clinical Faculty Application Cover (PDF)
2. Current Curriculum Vitae (CV)
3. Copy of Applicable Board Certification
4. Copy of Residency Completion Certificate (physician only)
5. Copy of Medical or applicable Graduate School Diploma
6. State License (Optional: VCOM can verify state licensure online, thus a copy of State License is not required)

To expedite the process, please submit all documents together; incomplete submissions cannot be processed.

Helpful Links

• Tips for Making Precepting Painless & Other Resources
  (Provided by the Physician Assistant Education Association)
• Teaching in the Clinical Environment
  (Provided by ‘Medical Teacher’)
• “Giving Feedback” Video
  (Provided by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health)
• Clinical Teaching Resources
  (Provided by the University of Nebraska Medical Center)

Forms Continued

Section 3: Evaluations

•  Clinical Site Evaluation Plan
•  Preceptor Evaluation of Student
•   Professionalism Mini-Evaluation Exercise
•   Professionalism Evaluation Form
•   360 Degree Evaluation Form
•   Anesthesiologist Assistant Milestone Project 24-25
•  Student Evaluation of Preceptor
•   Affiliate Clinical Site Evaluation
•   Site Evaluation Form – Preceptor Interview
•   Site Evaluation Form – Student Interview

Section 4: Misc Information

•  Anesthesia Care Plan