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Regulations for Off-campus Internship for Students of the Department of Physical Therapy at Asia University

Regulations for off-campus Internship for Students of the Department of Physical Therapy at Asia University
Approved by the Departmental Practicum Committee Meeting on May 18, 2022.

Article 1: The Department of Physical Therapy at Asia University (hereinafter referred to as "the Department") hereby establishes the Regulations for Off-Campus Internship for Students of the Department of Physical Therapy at Asia University (hereinafter referred to as "these Regulations") in accordance with the "Regulations for Off-Campus/Overseas Internship of Asia University Students".
Article 2: In order to enhance the clinical internship education of the Department and improve the quality and effectiveness of student internships, the contents of these Regulations include:
1. Acquisition of internship qualifications.
2. Criteria for selecting internship institutions, negotiation with internship institutions, and formulation of internship contracts.
3. Rules for selecting and allocation internship institutions.
4. Pre-internship briefing and training.
5. Supervision, attendance, and management of internship students.
6. Mechanisms for counseling visits during internships and responsibilities of visiting faculty.
7. Mechanisms for student internship transfers, withdrawals, and dispute resolution.
8. Methods for assessing student internship performance and coordinating students in various related tasks.
9. Student internship effectiveness and feedback.
Article 3: Acquisition of Internship Qualifications:
1. All prerequisite courses of clinical practice (I) ~ (VI) must be passed. For details of the prerequisite courses, please refer to the courses list of each academic year.
Article 4: Criteria for Selecting Internship Institutions:
1. Internship institutions affiliated with the department must be able to provide students with internships in at least two specialized areas, such as orthopedics, neurology, pediatrics, or respiratory and circulatory physical therapy, each lasting at least six weeks, in medical institutions or institutions that offer specialized services such as prosthetics or orthotics, long-term care, early intervention (including school systems), sports coaching, or injury prevention. These institutions must be reviewed and approved by the Departmental Practicum Committee.
2. The qualifications of clinical instructors, teaching environments, and teaching activities of internship institutions affiliated with the department must comply with the standards set by the Physical Therapist Internship Certification Criteria of the Ministry of Examination and the regulations set by the Taiwan Physical Therapy Association.
3. Mainly provide daytime internships from Monday to Friday.
Article 5: Negotiation with Internship Institutions and Formulation of Internship Contracts:
1. The department's internship planning team will coordinate and discuss cooperation with internship institutions that meet the standards.
2. The department and the clinical internship institutions jointly formulate the content of the internship contract. The contract should be signed before the start of the internship, and the clinical internship institutions should adhere to the schedule. The contents of the contract include:
   1). Providing guidance to students in practical operations to prevent accidents during the internship.
   2). Assisting in providing various information related to the internship.
   3). Solving any difficulties encountered by students during their internship.
   4). Monitoring students' adaptation and living conditions during the internship and maintaining close communication with the department.
   5). Assisting in arranging issues related to accommodation, meals, transportation, or providing relevant information during the internship period.
Article 6:  Rules for Selection and Allocation of Internship Institutions
1. Selection of Internship Students by Internship Institutions
1). From November to December each year, the faculty members in charge of internship affairs in the department will assist in contacting individual clinical institutions to confirm their willingness to accept students from the department for internships in the next academic year, as well as the number of vacancies and the selection/allocation methods. By mid-January of the following year, the guidelines of each institution will be provided to students who meet the internship qualifications.
2). Students of the department who wish to participate in the selection process of internship institutions must submit all relevant documents to each internship institution before the deadline specified by each institution. Upon receiving the selection results from the clinical internship institutions, students who have been accepted by the internship institutions must also return their intention to intern before the deadline specified by each institution, thus completing the internship selection process.
2. Allocation of Internship Institutions by Students
1). The allocation process takes place from late March to mid-April each year. Junior and extended study students of the department are required to submit their official transcripts to the faculty members in charge of internship affairs in the department in the first week of the second semester of each year, for the calculation of internship selection scores and ranking.
2). Calculation of Internship Selection Scores and Ranking Method:
   (i) Calculate the average grades (A) of the following courses.
   (ii) Calculate the sum of the plus and minus points obtained after calculating the average score of the summer/winter review exam (B).
   (iii) Add the scores of (A) to the scores (B) to obtain the total score (C), and sort by the highest to lowest scores to get the original internship selection ranking.
The courses for calculating internship selection ranking scores are as follows:
(1) General Psychology; (2) General Biology; (3)Introduction to Physical Therapy; (4)Gross Anatomy(I); (5)Gross Anatomy Laboratory(I); (6)Physiology; (7)Kinesiology; (8) Fundamental in Physical Therapy (1); (9) Fundamental Techniques in Physical Therapy (1)；(10)Physical Agents；(11)Physical Agents Practice; (12)Gross Anatomy (II); (13)Gross Anatomy Laboratory (II); (14) Development and Evaluation of Children; (15)Manual Therapy; (16) Manual Therapy Practice; (17)Physical Therapy Ethics; (18)Physical Therapy Administration Management; (19)Biomechanics; (20) Fundamental in Physical Therapy (II); (21) Fundamental Techniques in Physical Therapy (II)；(22)Public Health; (23)Exercise Physiology; (24)Introduction to Rehabilitation Medicine; (25)Neurological Physical Therapy (I); (26)Orthopedic Physical Therapy (I); (27)Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy；(28)Introduction to Internal Medicine；(29)Introduction to Surgery；(30) Clinical Observation(I)；(31)Neurological Physical Therapy Practice；(32)Orthopedic Physical Therapy Practice (I)；(33)Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy Practice.
3). Rules for Ranking in the First Round of Internship Institution Allocation
   (i) Participants
i. Students who did not participate in the selection by internship institutions.
ii. Students who participated in the selection by internship institutions but did not receive internship qualifications from any institutions.
   (ii) Allocation Method
i. Students in the above two categories are ranked according to the internship selection score calculation method, and allocation is made in sequence. Each student can only choose one clinical internship institution per round, and the selected institution is not limited to the first or second semester.
ii. After the first round of internship institution selection is completed, the second round of internship institution allocation will be conducted.
4). Rules for Ranking in the Second Round of Internship Institution Allocation
   (i) Participants
i. Students who did not participate in the selection by internship institutions.
ii. Students who participated in the selection by internship institutions but did not receive internship qualifications from any institutions.
iii. Students who participated in the selection by internship institutions, but only obtained qualifications from some institutions and still need to select internship institutions.
iv. Students who participated in the selection by internship institutions and obtained internship acceptance from any institution, but withdraw the internship offer for that institution due to personal considerations, or whose internship institution and hours do not yet meet the certification criteria for the Physical Therapist Examination and still need to select internship institutions
   (ii) Allocation Method
i. Students in the above categories are ranked according to the internship selection score calculation method, and selection is made in sequence. Each student can only choose one clinical internship institution per round, and the selected institution is not limited to the first or second semester.
ii. After the second round of internship institution allocation is completed, if necessary, another round of internship institution selection will be conducted until all student allocations are completed.
5). Cancellation of Internship Qualifications
   (i) Students in this department who fail to pass the following subjects before the first stage of internship in each academic year will have their clinical internship qualifications cancelled: (1)Kinesiology; (2)Manual therapy; (3)Manual Therapy Practice; (4)Orthopedic Physical Therapy (I); (5) Orthopedic Physical Therapy Practice (I); (6)Neurological Physical Therapy (I); (7)Neurological Physical Therapy Practice; (8) Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy; (9) Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy Practice; (10) Orthopedic Physical Therapy (II); (11) Orthopedic Physical Therapy Practice (II); (12) Neurological Physical Therapy (II); (13) Neurological Physical Therapy Practice(II); (14) Pediatric Physical Therapy; (15) Pediatric Physical Therapy and Practice.
   (ii) If students miss or waive the selection and allocation of internship institutions in both rounds of the academic year for any reason, they must reapply the following year.
3. Before students choose internship institutions, the department needs to hold an internship institution briefing session to help students understand the characteristics of internship institutions. When choosing internship institutions, students need to consider their own abilities and interests, as well as the characteristics and requirements of the internship institutions, and they need to be aware that they must have at least 18 weeks (including) of internships in teaching hospitals at the regional level or above
4. After the allocation of internship institutions is confirmed, the internship institution is not allowed to be changed, abandoned, or changed privately, except for students who take a leave of absence.
Article 7: Pre-Internship Briefing and Training
1. Pre-internship briefings and training sessions shall be conducted prior to the commencement of each year's internship schedule.
2. The pre-internship briefing will provide explanations regarding the registration procedures and precautions for internship units, offer relevant information about the internship institutions, and distribute internship handbooks. Surveys and updates of student contact information will be conducted during the briefing.
3. Basic knowledge training for professional courses will be conducted during the pre-internship briefing.
Article 8: Supervision, Attendance, and Management of Internship Students
1. Faculty members of the department and clinical instructors of the internship institutions shall jointly supervise the students' internship.
2. The department arranges faculty members to visit internship institutions on-site to understand the students' internship situation and the current status of the internship institutions to ensure the quality of students' clinical internship.
3. Intern students must comply with the regulations of the internship institution, such as punctual attendance, treating patients, submitting reports, assignments, medical records, etc.
4. If a student is unable to participate in off-campus internship due to illness or other reasons, they must apply for leave from the department and the internship unit. The missed internship hours of internship must be made up according to the regulations of the internship institution. If the number of days of absence during the internship period (including leave and absenteeism) exceeds one-third of the total internship days, the internship will be considered as failed, and the student will need to redo the internship. Other leave and makeup internship regulations shall be handled according to the regulations of the internship institution. If there are no specific regulations, they will be handled according to the regulations in the department's internship handbook.
Article 9 Mechanism for Internship Counseling Visits and Responsibilities of Visiting Faculty
1. The faculty guidance and visiting unit of this department will announce before the student’s internship.
2. Internship counseling visit should be conducted by faculty members on-site at least once each semester at the institution where students are interning.
3. During the internship counseling visits, the visiting faculty will hold discussions and interviews separately with the clinical internship instructors and the internship students, and complete the internship unit visit records and internship institution assessment forms in collaboration with the clinical instructors of the internship institutions.
4. If any inappropriate or non-compliant matters regarding the qualifications of the clinical instructors, teaching environments, or teaching activities of the internship unit that affect the learning rights of the internship students are found during the internship counseling visits, the visiting faculty members must submit reports to the department's student affairs committee for coordination after the counseling visit.
Article 10: Internship resignation, referral, and dispute resolution mechanism
  1. If a student performs poorly during the internship period and fails to improve after counseling, thus not meeting the requirements of the internship unit, and the internship unit formally requests in writing to terminate the internship, or if the student encounters significant difficulties or major changes during the internship and still faces severe difficulties after guidance from the clinical supervising teacher or the department teachers, the student must fill out a "Declaration of Abandonment of Physical Therapy Clinical Internship." The department's internship counseling teacher will intervene and handle the situation, and depending on the circumstances, report to the department's internship committee or request the student to personally explain to the committee.
  2. Clinical internship students or teachers who encounter disputes during the clinical internship period can fill out the "Asia University Department of Physical Therapy Student Clinical Internship Issue Feedback Form." The department's internship counseling teacher will intervene and, depending on the circumstances, report the matter to the department's internship committee for discussion.
  3. Except for students who take a leave of absence, those who stop their internship must still handle their course credits in accordance with the relevant regulations of the university.
Article 11: Internship Student Performance Evaluation
  1. The evaluation of student internship performance is divided into two parts: clinical internship performance and the creation of internship process files. The former accounts for 85% of the total internship grade and is assessed by clinical teachers, while the latter accounts for 15% and is evaluated by department teachers.
  2. The creation of the internship process files includes submitting a biweekly journal every two weeks during the off-campus internship period, and two internship reports (covering all teaching activities during the institutional internship period).
Article 12: Student Internship Outcomes and Feedback
  1. During the internship period, students must regularly submit weekly journals, in which they provide insights and relevant feedback on their internship experience.
  2. The department has established a Clinical Internship Reflection Journal, which allows internship students to provide immediate feedback during the internship period. A designated teacher handles the feedback accordingly.
  3. The supervising visitation teacher, based on the feedback items in the internship students' weekly journals, not only provides relevant counseling but also collects and integrates the feedback. This collected information is then submitted to the department's Student Affairs Committee for discussion.
Article 13:Students of the department must still pay tuition and miscellaneous fees during their off-campus internships. All expenses for board, lodging, and travel required by the off-campus internship institution, unless otherwise specified by the institution, are to be borne by the students themselves.
Article 14: During the off-campus internship period, students from the department are covered by accident insurance, with an insured amount of at least two million New Taiwan Dollars.
Article 15: The offering of off-campus internship courses, student course registration, and grade processing shall be conducted in accordance with the 'Asia University Undergraduate and Graduate Academic Regulations.
Article 16: For matters not covered by this regulation, the primary responsibility for coordination falls to the teacher in charge of internship affairs, who shall submit them to the department's internship committee for discussion and handle them according to the resolutions passed
Article 17: The alternative arrangements and implementation principles for internship operations in response to severe special infectious pneumonia epidemics shall be conducted in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and taking into consideration the announcements made by the Taiwan Physical Therapy Association Corporation.
Article 18: This regulation shall be implemented after approval by the departmental internship committee and the college internship committee meetings. The same applies to amendments.