Dear Academic Coordinators of Clinical
Education:
As many of you may already be aware, a motion was made at the
Combined Sections Meeting in Boston last February to consider a uniform mailing date for
requesting clinical slots. The motion was deferred until the Scientific Meetings to be
held in Orlando. Deferment would allow the CESIG membership to go back to their clinical
communities, academic institutions and clinical education consortia and further discuss
how this would impact on programs as well as clinical sites. In June, The CESIG within the
Education Section, voted to support a voluntary uniform mailing date policy. Several
motions related to the topic were discussed. Representatives from north, south, east and
west as well as from numerous consortia, ACCEs and CCCEs reported with acceptance of the
motion. The motions passed are as follows:
-Motion: Voluntarily agree to a return date of April 30 for clinical
site requests.
Discussion: Many consortia have already agreed to a uniform date.
CCCEs reported their strong preference for receiving all of the requests at the same time,
whatever that time may be. January & February were too early for many, others reported
that May, June was too late. There was acknowledgment that clinical sites will return the
forms when they are ready independently of the return date requested.
Motion passed unanimously.
· Motion: Voluntarily agree to mail requests between March 1 and
March 15.
Discussion: There was agreement that this was a reasonable
compromise. The change may cause some difficulties during the first year of implementation
but those members of consortia who have altered their mailing dates to match the agreed
consortia date reassured all that it is worth the effort and the clinicians were very
pleased
Motion passed unanimously.
· Motion: The voluntary mail-out date of March 1-15 will be
implemented in March of 1999 to request slots for the calendar year of 2000 (and not
beyond).
Discussion. The differences between calendar and academic years were
discussed, with the voice of the CCCE strongly supporting calendar year.
Motion passed unanimously
The Clinical Education Special Interest Group is excited about
the ability of our group to once again pull together during a time of need and confront a
tough issue. Thank you for your ability to set aside our individual needs in the spirit of
collaboration. Our students and clinical sites will benefit from our shared vision.