Field Supervisor Responsibilities

Sign the Field Supervisor Agreement Form (the “Intent of Relationship” form establishing your willingness to serve as a field supervisor for the specified student). This will be submitted by the student after it is signed by the administrative or business manager
Complete the Field Supervisor Profile and attach a curriculum vitae/resume. Submit this to the student, who will then forward it to Aspen University. Alternatively, the field supervisor may submit it directly to Aspen University. Contact information is provided on each form.
Assist in collection of legal and contractual documents (Clinical Site Agreement), to be submitted by the student prior to beginning the clinical experience.
Provide a setting in which the student may observe and participate in educational and counseling situations in a mental healthcare or academic organization.
Function as a role model and provide leadership and supervision for the student.
Sign the student’s clinical hours tracking log each day the student is present in his/her clinical site.
Participate in at least ONE teleconference with the student and Faculty Mentor (jointly) to discuss the student's progress and learning needs.
Provide input regarding clinical evaluation of the student and will complete the Student Performance Evaluation form at the end of the course.
Notify the Faculty Mentor immediately when satisfactory performance of the student is in question.

Specific Details Pertaining to Field Supervisor Responsibilities

The field supervisor's primary role is teaching. Field Supervisors assist the student to integrate and apply knowledge from their foundational courses incorporating the information into clinical situations. Field Supervisors also stimulate decision making through questioning the student regarding their observations and reasoning. This process assists the student to reflect and describe their assessment and recommend clinical strategies. Additionally, field supervisors assist the student to become more accurate and complete in their communication with the healthcare and academic team. The field supervisor has the opportunity to model interpersonal relationship skills with colleagues, superiors, and subordinates. Field Supervisors can model behaviors to navigate the health care and academic organizational system such as experiences with students, peer faculty, and clinical educators. Furthermore, the field supervisor models the role of an educator and an interdisciplinary team member.

Communication with Faculty

While field supervisors are encouraged to contact the Faculty at any time, field supervisors should initiate contact as soon as possible for situations involving a student's unsafe practice, unethical conduct or any changes in the field supervisor's availability to precept. Any agency concerns should also be related to the faculty. Faculty report these instances to the Dean.

Communication with Student

Field Supervisors are encouraged to provide regular feedback to the student including brief discussions of the student's daily performance, as well as midterm and final evaluations. Field Supervisors are encouraged to relate concerns to the student at the time of occurrence in order for the student to rectify any concerns as soon as possible.

Evaluation of Student

While the faculty assumes ultimate responsibility for the formal written evaluation, the field supervisor's input will provide supportive evidence for the ratings. Field Supervisors are in a position to collect data that gives evidence of student competence. Also, field supervisors have an opportunity to support professional practice standards and the credibility.
Observations of the student's performance should be compared with practice standards, validated with faculty, and shared with the student. The student's response to your day-to- day feedback also becomes a part of the field supervisor's evaluation data.

Field Supervisors should remember that they do not fail students or stall a student's progress. Instead, the student's performance either meets or fails to meet criteria.