Attendance Policy

The Practical Nursing Program is an hours-based program. Class, clinical and laboratory hours are established to meet learning needs and the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing (MABORN) regulations.

Class Attendance

This is an on-campus, face-to-face program and class attendance is essential to academic success, safe clinical performance and competency. The Practical Nurse Program is an hours based program and it is expected that students will attend and actively participate in all scheduled lectures. A student who misses class is responsible for the content and assignments for the class, regardless of the reason for missing the class. (Weekly class hours are specified in each course’s syllabus). Missing greater than 8% of class time per nursing course may result

in the student missing too much class content in order to meet student learning outcomes. (Missing one week of class time out of fifteen weeks = 8%.)

Class Promptness

Students are expected to be seated and ready to participate in activities at the start of each class. Students may not enter the classroom once the instructor has started/resumed class. Student will be allowed to enter/re-enter the classroom at the next break. Students should make every effort to wait until break to leave class as they will not be allowed to re-enter until the next scheduled break. We recognize that a student may need to leave the class before the scheduled break and ask that you would do this in the least disruptive manner.

Campus Laboratory Attendance

College labs are for practicing skills prior to clinical experiences in order to optimize client care. Each student is expected to attend campus laboratory on time and for the full number of hours as designated in the clinical schedule Students must be prepared for all college laboratory sessions. A student who is absent from a campus lab or dismissed due to lack of preparation is responsible for making up the content of that lab. Clinical skills lab absences must be made up during designated make-up time. It is the responsibility of the student to contact and schedule make-up time with the lab faculty. All skills lab absences must be made up within one week or the student may not be able to progress to the next skill.

Clinical/Data Collection Attendance

Clinical courses provide experienced-based learning that supports the acquisition of essential clinical skills and knowledge. The credits allotted to each course determine the number of clinical hours required. Each student is expected to attend each clinical day on time and prepared for the full number of hours designated.

In the event that a clinical absence is necessary, the student is required to call their clinical faculty to report their absence prior to the start of clinical.

A student who is late for clinical will not be allowed to participate in clinical that day and will be marked absent, will receive a professionalism warning, a zero for that clinical day and will not be allowed to make up that time.
A student who does not call to report a clinical absence will receive a professionalism warning, a zero for that clinical day and will not be allowed to make up that time.
A student who does not call to report a clinical absence a second time will be dismissed from the program for unprofessionalism. (Refer to dismissal policy)
A student who misses clinical due to noncompliance to immunizations or CPR, will be given a professionalism warning and a zero for that clinical day and will not be allowed to make up that time.
A student absent from clinical due to illness will have an opportunity to make up that day as per the scheduled date given at the beginning of the semester. If a student cannot attend that makeup day, they will be given a zero for that clinical day.
No more than 3 absences will be allowed in any given semester. Students who miss more than 3 clinical days will result in a clinical failure due to inability to complete course outcomes and program hours mandated by the state.
Students who are ill and will miss more than 1 clinical day due to an illness, should refer to the Medical Leave Policy.

Revised: PN Faculty Committee, 5/30/19, 11/13/19, 11/20/19, 1/27/20