A PHAR 185 student has a personal emergency and takes an excused absence for compassionate leave. They are off-site for 3 days before returning. One of those days of missed time does not need to be made up, but the other two do. The student should negotiate with their preceptor how to make up that missed time prior to the last scheduled day of the rotation and let the EL Office know of their plan.

A PHAR 285 student is ill and off site for 2 days. On the first day of their absence, they do not feel well enough to work from home, so they rest. They are still symptomatic the next morning, but feel well enough to work from home, so they work on their de-identified patient care plan and check in with the preceptor virtually before lunch. They let their preceptor know they need rest again, so do not work for the afternoon. They feel better on the third day and return to site. This student has been off site for two days. One of those days is an excused absence and does not need to be made up. The student worked from home for a half day on a task relevant to their rotation and competencies expected to be demonstrated, so that time does not need to be made up. The remaining half-day when they did not work from home has to be made up. The student should negotiate with their preceptor how to make up that missed time prior to the last scheduled day of the rotation and let the EL Office know of their plan.

A PHAR 483 student is ill and unable to work off site due to the nature and/or severity of the illness. They are off site for 2 days before returning. Neither of those days of missed time need to be made up. The student then takes another excused absence for compassionate leave later in the rotation and is off for another day. They are required to make up the missed time from this day as they have already used the maximum of two days of time that do not need to be made up. The student should negotiate with their preceptor how to make up that missed time prior to the last scheduled day of the rotation and let the EL Office know of their plan.

A PHAR 482 student wants to attend Professional Development Week during their upcoming Block 5 rotation. They seek approval and make arrangements with the preceptor in advance, and also confirm with the EL Office by submitting their absence in CORE. When they return to site, they start their rotation as normal and relay relevant new knowledge from the conference to the team. Later in the rotation, the student experiences an acute illness and takes one day of illness leave. None of this time needs to be made up during this rotation.

There are several reasons it is important that students let the EL Office know when they are off site.

Firstly, the EL Office holds the responsiblity of ensuring students are safe and well during EL courses. When students are off site and unaccounted for by the EL Office, it raises liability concerns. In the case of an emergency, we need to know where students are.

Secondly, letting the EL Office know when you are off site enables us to ensure that you have appropriate resources offered to you in a timely manner, whether that is to ensure you have the necessary tools to complete meaningful and productive tasks if working from home or to ensure you are connected with support services to help you navigate challenging times. 

Thirdly, letting the EL Office know when you are off site helps us help preceptors. Sometimes, preceptors are not sure what procedures to follow when an unforeseen event comes up during the rotation. When a student is off site, we connect with preceptors to ensure they feel equipped to support the student remotely and continue to provide fair and timely assessment and evaluation. 

Ultimately, the EL Office team cares about students and we want to do all we can to support your success and wellbeing. Without knowing what is going on, the supports we can provide are limited. Please keep us in the loop so we can help you and your preceptors.

In the case a student in an IPPE or APPE rotation attends a medical appointment during excused absence time for acute illness, they do not have to make up that time so long as it falls within the parameters in the Excusable Absences from IPPE and APPE Rotations table above.

Routine, scheduled medical appointments (e.g., physical exams, dental cleanings, optometrist check-ups, physiotherapy appointments, etc.) do not fall under excusable absenses. These types of appointments should be arranged outside of scheduled placement time. Students with approved AES accommodations related to medical appointments are eligible to attend appointments during placement time per their accommodation plan, but the missed time must still be made up.

We recognize that some medical appointments (e.g., specialist consults, imaging/testing/procedures, etc.) come up and cannot be easily rescheduled. If a student must take time away from the placement for these appointments, this time is required to be made up. If a student is scheduled for a procedure or surgery that will require them to be away for an extended time, they should contact the EL Office to discuss their unique circumstance.

Religious observances are not considered excusable absences in EL. Students are encouraged to apply for accommodations through Access and Equity Services (AES) if they intend to observe religious holidays, ceremonies, events, etc. that coincide with potential upcoming EL placement dates. The EL Office will consider approved AES accommodations in scheduling students' placements.

AES accommodations are not retroactive, so students must arrange with AES prior to the EL Office's placement scheduling process. Accommodations, of any kind, do not exempt students from completing the required placement hours and meeting the same expectations as others.

This does not mean that you cannot take time away from the site if you so choose to, however, it does mean that time needs to be made up. We encourage students to consider and assess whether time away from the placement would have any potential impact on their abilities to demonstrate the expected level of achievement in all competencies required. Students will have to discuss, propose, and approve a plan with their preceptor(s) early in the placement as to whether it is feasible to facilitate in the rotation and how missed time will be made up.

When a student is absent due to illness, it is up to them to use their discretion to determine if they are well enough to work from home. Being able to recognize and respond to self and colleagues in need is an important educational outcome of the PharmD program and a professional skill that is expected of pharmacists throughout their career. A student should question if they are able to maintain a comparable level of productivity at home as they would on site given their illness. If yes, they may work from home provided that the considerations in the procedures have been discussed and agreed upon with their preceptor(s). When students need to rest and recouperate, they should focus on getting well rather than working. If extended time away from site is required to recover, students should reach out to the EL Office to have a discussion about the overall impact on rotation completion.

Yes, if a student is ill for only part of a day, the hours worked on site or at home can be counted toward the required rotation hours and do not have to be made up. Students should rest as needed when at home will illness, but must communicate their plans to be working or not with their preceptor(s).

These activities should be negotiated between students and preceptors. The student is expected to propose a plan to their preceptor who is ultimately responsible for deeming an activity appropriate for off-site work or not. Some examples include:

• working on de-identified care plans*
• completing de-identified drug information questions*
• participating in virtual discussions or meetings with site staff and/or other students
• developing presentations (e.g., patient case presentations, pharmacotherapy updates, health advocacy projects, etc.)
• working on projects (e.g., patient resources, prescriber tools, etc.)

*Emphasis is placed on tasks and activities related to patient care and other timely deliverables. All information brought home by the student should be cleared of identifying patient information. Students should be following confidentiality procedures and policies regarding transmission of information by email and other electronic communications.

Students and preceptors should identify how the activities completed at home will contribute to the student's demonstration of meeting the required expectations for outstanding competencies in the evaluation form. For example, if a student has been struggling to demonstrate expectatations for competencies under the Providing Care domain, they should be focusing on activities that demonstrate the skills and knowledge required to identify drug therapy problems, compare therapeutic alternative, etc. rather than spending their time working on a presentation unrelated to direct patient care.

While students are advised to avoid unexcused absences during EL rotations, there may be extenuating circumstances that arise during the rotation (e.g., a medical appointment that can't be rescheduled). In this case, you may discuss with your preceptor if there are natural opportunities based on the site's hours, rotation schedule, and workflow to make up for the missed time (e.g., being scheduled to work on a weekend and having a weekday off in lieu, etc.). This should be limited to no more than one day.

Students should not intend to nor attempt to shift their rotation schedule for travel, weddings, etc. for the following reasons, among others:

• preceptors and sites commit to set block dates many months in advance of the rotation and it is not reasonable to ask them to accomodate dates outside of what they previously agreed to
• students may miss opportuntities for adequate supervision, support, demonstration of growth, and achievement of expectations
• grades must be submitted by the EL Office by stipulated deadlines that often fall soon after the rotation's end date so one student's delayed completion may delay other students' grade submissions

If the student is unable to return from leave to the site in-person, any required evaluations will occur virtually and will be documented and submitted in CORE by both the student and preceptor. Achievement of course outcomes will be determined on an individual basis. The student may need to complete additional hours on site or at an alternate site, or repeat the placement.

Each situation will be different, but effort will be made to ensure completion of the original placement within the scheduled timeframe.

In emergency or crisis situations, students and preceptors should use their discretion to contact emergency response (e.g., 911, 988 Suicide Crisis Helpline, local crisis support lines, etc.) before reaching out to the EL Office.

The EL Office team monitors emails received by pharmacyel@usask.ca and phone lines Monday through Friday from 8:30AM to 4:30PM, except for when the University of Saskatchewan is closed at the end of December. If a student or preceptor reaches out outside of those hours, it is possible that a response will not be provided until someone returns to the office. 

During crises and unforeseen life events, such as experiencing the death of a loved one, we know it may be challenging or even impossible to reach out. If possible, ask someone else to email kirsten.bazylak@usask.ca or (306) 966-6337.

It is important that students develop professional development and continuous lifelong learning skills during the PharmD program. The APPE year (i.e., Year 4) provides students the opportunity to direct their learning over the course of the year, from setting personal learning objectives and SMART goals for each rotation to identifying and seeking out additional opportunities for self-directed learning outside of rotations. Students are provided up to two (2) excused absence days for professional development in their APPE year to practice these skills.

As IPPE rotations are only four weeks long, there is simply not enough time in the rotation to excuse absences for professional development while ensuring that students have adequate time to practice and demonstrate all required competencies. IPPE students are encouraged to seek out additional professional development opportunities, but should pursue them outside of the scheduled rotation hours.

Often, there are mutiple preceptors at one site. Even if a formal co-preceptor has not been named at the site, another person may be designated by the preceptor to oversee the student in periods of temporary absence of the primary preceptor. Ideally, the primary preceptor will be able to handover supervision and set expectations with the designated individual. Preceptors, co-preceptors, and/or their designate should contact the EL Office as soon as possible in these instances. Students should never be left unsupervised. 

If the preceptor is sick and off site for an extended time and the site cannot continue to host the placement in their absence, the pharmacy manager/preceptor will notify the EL Office to determine next steps and discuss the plan for coverage or re-assignment based on the situation. All decisions related to cancellation of placements will be communicated to students by the EL Office. Evaluations to-date (if applicable) will be documented and submitted in CORE by the preceptor.