CLERKSHIP DEVELOPMENT & CLERKSHIP COURSE CHANGES

All permanent clerkships undergo an approval process to ensure educational quality by both the University of Washington and the School of Medicine. This approval process may also be needed for changes to an already-approved clerkship making curricular and/or site changes. Clerkships are approved at two levels, via two separate processes:

UW SCHOOL OF MEDICINE CLERKSHIP APPROVAL

  • Approved via UW SOM Clerkship/Site Application
  • Approval establishes the site and/or course content meets SOM policy standards
  • Reviewed and approved by UW SOM Governance
SOM LEVEL APPROVAL PROCESS

UW CURRICULUM COURSE APPROVAL (KUALI)

  • Approved via UW New Course proposal (Kuali, a web-based application)
  • Approval establishes the clerkship as a UW course for registration, grading, financial aid, and other administrative purposes at the UW level
  • Reviewed and approved by UW Curriculum
UW LEVEL APPROVAL PROCESS

  • Initiation of a new clerkship and/or clerkship site can begin with the site, the department, or the regional office.
  • Once clerkship development begins the site, region, and department should be working together to complete the application.
  • During development, Clinical Curriculum is available to consult on any of the following:
    • Regional areas needing site development
    • Required clerkships needed in general or by region
    • The approval process
    • Available Course numbers
    • Deadlines and approval timelines
  • Once the site, region, and department have developed a clerkship and begun the site evaluation process it is time to begin the SOM and UW approval processes for new a new clerkship.
  • A new clerkship with a new course number requires approval at the UW and SOM levels.
  • A new clerkship site for an already-established clerkship course number may only need approval at the SOM level. It may need approval at the UW-level if curricular attributes (like course name) are changed.

Changes to an already-existing clerkship may need approvals at both the UW and SOM levels, depending on the type of change being made.

A SOM Clerkship Application is needed when the following change(s) in a clerkship occur:

  • Change in SOM graduation requirement (ex.- change from a Clinical Elective clerkship to an Advanced Patient Care clerkship. NOTE: SOM has an application to change an elective to an APC or APC-Sub-I)
  • Change in Primary Site
  • Change in Site Director*

*Clinical Curriculum is working on developing a course change form so departments don’t have to submit an entire new clerkship application for smaller changes like this. Until this form is launched, please contact somclrk@uw.edu to notify of changes to Site Director so Curriculum can note for record; no application will be required.

Approval at the UW level (via the UW Curriculum Manage system- Kuali) is needed when the following change(s) in a clerkship occur:

  • Course name change, long or short (as long as the name change doesn’t reflect a change in the course content)
  • Small tweaks to the course description (sometimes done to clarify the course a bit more- okay as long as the course content isn’t changing)
  • Course prerequisites

Approval at both the UW and SOM level is needed when the following change(s) in a clerkship occur:

  • New/changed Learning Objectives (called Goals & Objectives on application)/course content
  • Change in credits (ex.- you had a 4 week clerkship that you want to offer only as 2 week)
  • Any other Curricular Elements required and reviewed in Kuali

Small changes like adding a new secondary site or small changes to a course name in eValue to correct an error do not need approval.  Contact somclrk@uw.edu if you are unsure what is needed for your clerkship.

All new clerkships need to be entered permanently into the Time Schedule Construction System to ensure students can receive a grade. Full details about completing this step in the approval process can be found on our Entering Clerkships into the Time Schedule Information Page.

Once you have gotten all your approvals in place, and entered your course into the Time Schedule, Curriculum is able to add your course to eValue, and, if applicable, to the Elective, APC and APC-Sub-I Clerkship Catalog.  Remaining steps that happen outside of curriculum for a new course are:

  • Academic Affairs is notified of the new clerkship site for Affiliation Agreement purposes
  • ALT Team works with Departments to add faculty to eValue
  • Departments work on Faculty Appointments, if needed
  • Departments market clerkship to students
  • Regions and Departments work on Site Visits and Faculty Development
  • Registration & Scheduling begins enrolling students for upcoming rotations

Questions about the business of clinical clerkship sites?  Please visit the WWAMI Clinical Clerkship Sites website, which has detailed information on Affiliation Agreements and Clerkship Funding for your new site/clerkship.

  • New clerkships need approval at both the UW and SOM level before they can be added to eValue.
  • Any new courses created in Kuali must be entered into the Time Schedule following UW approval before they can be added to eValue.
  • Course changes may need approvals at SOM and/or UW level, depending on the type of change being made (see below for additional details).
  • Please contact Curriculum at somclrk@uw.edu with questions about the clerkship application or approval process.
  • Site visits are not required for elective clerkships.
  • For a detailed presentation regarding the clerkship approval process you van view the following recording: Clerkship Approval Process Presentation