ACOE_Self-Study

2.10.2.1 Each site must be visited by personnel designated by the program within one year of placement of the first extern(s) and thereafter on a periodic basis. The externship program has adopted the following policy regarding visitation of externship sites: • All SUNY Optometry Externship Sites will have an on-site evaluation by the SUNY Optometry Clinical Externship Director or a designee approved by the SUNY Optometry Clinical Externship Director and the SUNY Optometry Chair of Clinical Education within one year of placement of the first extern(s) and thereafter on a periodic basis. • All SUNY Optometry externship site visit evaluations will be stored in the Office of Clinical Education at the SUNY College of Optometry. (The External Site Visit Checklist form in Appendix II-13b .) • For approved SUNY Optometry Externship Sites that do not have an on-site evaluation on record in the SUNY Optometry Office of Clinical Education, a plan has been established to have the sites evaluated according to the schedule in Appendix II-13e by the SUNY Optometry Clinical Externship Director, or a have an evaluation obtained from a designee approved by the SUNY Optometry Clinical Externship Director and the SUNY Optometry Chair of Clinical Education. 2.10.2.2 Program approved learning objectives must be established for all externship sites, and student performance must be evaluated using these objectives. Program-approved knowledge and skill-related learning objectives and competencies have been established for all sites ( Appendix II-13f ). In addition, site specific learning objectives/competencies are listed in this document that can be applied to a site depending on its emphasis (e.g., cornea/contact lenses, pediatric eye care, etc.). Students are evaluated using a grading form derivative of these learning objectives and competencies ( Appendix II-13g ). Externship sites are provided with a detailed Externship Manual ( Appendix II-14a ) that includes a history of the program, learning objectives and competencies, grading guidelines, instructions for the use of Meditrek, extern and clinical instructor responsibilities and assorted program policies and forms. (The Externship Manual provided to students is in Appendix II-14b .) As described in Section 2.10.2, data are collected on student-patient encounters, and students complete evaluations of the site and supervising faculty. This information is regularly reviewed by the director of externship programs with feedback provided to sites as indicated. Affiliation agreements, which are available to be reviewed on campus, detail the responsibilities of the site. 2.10.3 The program must provide educational direction, including orientation, training and development, to the externship sites. A list of current sites with the dates of the most recent visits and planned visits can be found in Appendix II-13e.

A newsletter with information and updates relevant to the externship program is sent to sites twice a year. There are plans to expand this to four times a year.

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