Field Experience Requirements
General Requirements
International Field Experience Requirments
The accreditation criterion of the Council on Education for Public Health requires all MPH students to complete a supervised field experience in a public health setting. Prior professional experience normally does not satisfy this requirement. The field experience must involve a project with defined objectives and evaluation criteria.
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Credits
Faculty Advisor
Plan
Preceptor
Required Forms
Grading
HIPAA
Immunization
Human Subjects Permission
Criminal Background Check
Confidentiality Agreement
CREDITS
Depending on your major, your field experience will require a minimum of two or three credits; each credit will require 45 to 60 hours completed in one or more semester(s); and it may be fulfilled on either a fulltime or part time basis. Depending on the length of the experience and the faculty field experience advisor’s evaluation of the scope of the work, an additional 1-3 credits (up to a maximum of 5 credits) may be earned. These additional credits can be applied to the total credit requirement for the MPH degree, resulting in a net reduction of elective credits needed to complete the degree.
Each major has different minimum required credits and different hours required per credit.
FACULTY ADVISOR
A faculty member must agree to act as the student's faculty field experience advisor. Typically, but not necessarily, this is the student’s academic advisor. However, if the field experience faculty advisor is NOT the student’s academic advisor, he or she should be either primary or adjunct faculty who is part of the student’s major’s faculty.
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PLAN
Students must develop a plan for the field experience with the consent of their SPH faculty field experience advisor. Students must register to receive graduate credits. In some instances a permission number may be required, and it will be provided by your major coordinator, the coordinator will email you to let you know when you will be able to register.
Students, in consultation with their advisor, should select the particular organization with which they wish to work. It is the student’s responsibility to contact the organization and potential preceptor. Arrangements for the field experience may be made any time after successful completion of the first semester. Many students choose to complete their field experience during the summer between their first and second year, but this is not a requirement.
Although a paid field experience is permitted, students should not expect such arrangements as the norm.
PRECEPTOR
The preceptor manages the day-to-day activities of the student’s field experience and will be expected to evaluate the student’s performance upon completion of the experience.
The site preceptor must be approved by the faculty field experience advisor, or by the Major Coordinator. The epidemiology and the community health majors require that the preceptor to have at least an MPH or equivalent level degree.
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REQUIRED FORMS
- Online Contract (before you start the Field Experience)
- Online Preceptor’s Evaluation (after you complete the Field Experience)
- Online Student’s Evaluation (after you complete the Field Experience)
- Online Release and Waiver (ONLY for International Field Experiences, part of the contract when you indicate it is international Field experience)
For international field experiences, when you complete the online contract you should answer "yes" for the question "Is this International Field Expereince?"
GRADING
Grades for the field experience are submitted when the faculty advisor and the major coordinator has accepted and approved both the student’s and preceptor’s evaluations of the field experience. S/N is the only grading option available.
HIPAA
HIPAA is required by all the ACH students at the school of Public Health. HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and requires us to implement processes with respect to protected health information as well as inform individuals about how we protect their information.
To check if you need to complete any HIPAA courses go to the myU portal at www.myu.umn.edu and click on the "my Academics & Career" tab. Under U of M privacy and Security Training, you will find listed the courses that you need to complete and a link to complete them.
IMMUNIZATION
All students in the School of Public Health should be in compliance with AHC immunization requirements. To check if you are in compliance with AHC immunization requirements:
- Visit the myU portal at www.myu.umn.edu
- Click on "my Health & Wellness." Under immunizations you can check if all your immunizations are verified. If not, you will find links to policies and required forms.
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HUMAN SUBJECTS PERMISSION
Certain facilities require permission from the Human Subjects Committee (Institutional Review Board) based on the proposed work scope for the field experience. The student must secure such permission prior to the start of the experience. The faculty advisor should be consulted for direction. The organization where you will conduct your experience will notify you if such permission is needed.
CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK
Certain facilities are required by Minnesota law to submit paperwork for a criminal background check for all personnel with direct, unsupervised client contact. If you are placed in such a facility, you may be asked by the institution to submit paperwork, or the institution may require that you have this check facilitated by the School of Public Health. The School is prepared to assist you.
Facilities that are covered by this law are hospitals, boarding care homes, outpatient surgical centers, nursing homes, home-care agencies, residential care homes, and board/lodging establishments providing health supervision services.
You must submit a criminal background check if you have direct contact with clients and have unsupervised interaction with clients (outside the hearing or vision of a supervisor at the facility). In the event this situation arises, please call The School of Public Health Student Services Center at 612.626.3500 or come to D305 Mayo, University of Minnesota Minneapolis campus for assistance. If you are outside the metro area, please feel free to call 800.774.8636.
CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT
Some agencies may ask students to sign agreements concerning confidentiality of data or other data practices. This may be especially true in those settings where students will have access to personal identifiers.
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Last modified on Wednesday Apr 04, 2007