Application Process
The Observership Program is an orientation to the Clinic, and will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about your rotation at Cleveland Clinic in Florida. Please indicate on the application the preferred rotations and dates available. Our rotations are four weeks in length and can be renewed for another 4 weeks with the consent of the Observer and the Supervising physician.
Two separate rotations are permitted for a maximum of eight total weeks for some departments. There is a $500.00 application fee which is non-refundable, check needs to be made payable to Cleveland Clinic in Florida.
You will be notified, in writing, of either acceptance or denial of your application. You may ask questions or check on the status of your application by email to the Observership Program Office.
Our email address is GME@ccf.org or contact the Observer Program Office at 954.659.6211 or toll-free at 1.866.293.7866 ext. 56211.
Download Observership Application (pdf)
What to Expect
Upon receipt of your application, application fee and proof of up-to-date immunizations, Overseas observer need a valid B-1, B-2, J-1, H-1b, or O-1 visa. A curriculum vitae (CV) and current photograph (passport size preferred; color or black & white or a copy of your Drivers License/Passport) are required. Your application will not be processed without all the documents submitted. Additional information may be required in order to process your application.
We will be in contact with you as soon as we have all the information needed. An observer may watch procedures, surgeries, patient histories and physicals, and attend patient rounds and teaching conferences. You may not scrub in and you may not participate in patient care. You may only observe.
An observer may not participate in patient care activities or research. We require proof of immunization for all specialties, specifically:
1.Varicella, rubella, titers, and/or immunizations MMR (mumps, measles & rubella)
2.Recent documented TB test or recent chest X-ray (<1year) if known TB positive
3.Proof of hepatitis B immunity (serology)
4.Proof of blood borne pathogen training or training will be provided prior to starting rotation.
5.ECFMG required for certain departments
Where to Report
To begin your Observership, check in by 8:30 a.m. on the morning of the first Monday of the month for your Observership. Please see maps located on this site.
Identification Badges
A temporary Photo ID badge will be issued to you at your orientation. You must wear your ID badge at all times while on the Clinic and Hospital premises. A $10.00 deposit is required for the identification badge, this deposit will be returned to you upon your return of the badge.
Dress Code
Observers are expected to dress in a professional manner. T-shirts, cutoffs, open toe shoes etc. are not allowed. It is recommended that you wear comfortable shoes. Lab coat must be worn at all times.
HIPAA
Observers are required to watch the video located on http://www.clevelandclinic.org/florida/research/hipaa/. Follow the instructions on the link and return the completed attestation with your application.
Parking
Parking is provided, at no charge. Observers must register their car (make, model, year & license plate number) with Security/Facilities by completing a form on their first day at orientation. You must always display the temporary parking permit on the dashboard of their car when parking at the Clinic.
Weston: Observers must park in the Employee Lot (north side of the facility).
Lab Coats
It is required that you wear one while on the premises of Cleveland Clinic in Florida. A $40.00 deposit is required for the use of one of our lab coat, this deposit will be returned to you upon your return of the lab coat.
Working Hours
Clinic (outpatient) services are typically 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Monday through Friday. Hospital services vary with each department. The Coordinator in each department will provide your specific working hours.
Meals
You are responsible for your meals.
Weston
Cleveland Clinic Cafe, 1st Floor, Hospital
Monday-Friday:7:00-10:00 hot breakfast
11:30-3:00 lunch & dinner
Weekends & Holidays:7:00-11:30 continental breakfast
11:30-6:00 lunch & dinner
Housing
No housing is provided. Observers are responsible for their own accommodations. The coordinator may provide you with a list of accommodations in the area upon request.
Cancellation Policy
Once your assignment has been confirmed, either by phone and/or e-mail, you are expected to complete the rotation. While cancellation may be necessary, please do so at least 30 days in advance. However, the $500 application fee is Non-Refundable.
International Students
In addition to the above, additional requirements are as follows:
ECFMG CERTIFICATION, required for Internal Medicine
You must provide a copy of your Certificate.
USMLE Scores
You must provide copies of your USMLE scores.
Immunizations
You must provide proof of your immunizations as listed above.
Other
CV and Passport
Observership Program: Weston Campus
- Allergy & Clinical Immunology
- Minimally Inv. Surgery
- Anesthesia
- General & Vascular Surgery
- Clinical Cardiology
- Nephrology & Hypertension
- Colorectal Surgery
- Orthopedics Surgery
- Endocrinology
- Otolaryngology
- Geriatrics
- Urogynecology
- Gastroenterology
- Urology
- Nephrology
Post Exposure Protocol
Significant exposure to patients’ blood or body fluids that require follow-up include:
- Needle stick, puncture or cut with contaminated sharp
- Splash into the eyes, nose or mouth
- Exposure to open skin areas
Follow-up Action
- Call Exposure Hotline immediately after exposure:
Weston
Occupational Health – Pager 992-4673
- Complete Occupational Injury Report Form and forward to:
Weston
Occupational/Employee Health
Human Resources Department
4th Floor, Clinic
- It is not necessary or advisable for the exposed employee to go to the Emergency Department unless emergency care is required, or if the occurrence is on weekends or after 5:00 p.m.
- If the source patient is known, a protocol exists for testing the patient for Hepatitis B and C and HIV. Testing must be ordered by the attending physician; not by yourself.
- After appropriate counseling, the exposed employee will be offered HIV testing for baseline information. This testing and reporting of the results is done confidentially, and test results are not filed in the employee’s medical record. Further testing will be scheduled at regular intervals for one year by Employee Health.
- Based on the severity and risk of the exposure, and after appropriate counseling, post-exposure prophylaxis may be recommended for the exposed employee.
- If you have any questions, please call:
Weston
Occupational/Employee Health, ext. 56099
Body Substance Precautions
Cleveland Clinic in Florida has adopted Body Substance Precautions (BSP). This is a system of infection prevention practices used for all patients. These practices involve the use of protective barriers (gloves, gowns, and facial protection) for contact with body substances, mucous membranes or intact skin, regardless of the patient’s diagnosis.
The type of barrier used depends on the specific procedure or patient interaction. Each department’s Exposure Control Plan outlines the minimum required protection that must be worn.
Gloves are required when a procedure or task is likely to involve contact with blood or other body fluids, mucous membranes, or non-intact skin.
Facial protection (mask, eyeglasses with side shields, face shield) is required when one can reasonably anticipate blood or body fluids being splashed in the face.
All barrier equipment is available in each patient care area. The use of BSP for all patients will effectively isolate all infections, except that spread by the respiratory droplet or airborne routes.
Cleveland Clinic Florida utilizes the terminology “Standard Precautions” for all patients. Standard Precautions are defined above in Body Substance Precautions. Along with this are Transmission Based Precautions, Airborne, Droplet and Contact.
Respiratory & Airborne Precautions
Respiratory Droplet Precautions
- Requires private room.
- Place droplet respiratory precautions sign on door of patient room; keep door closed.
- Anyone entering room must wear a surgical mask. If the patient must leave the room, patient must wear a surgical mask.
Diseases requiring respiratory droplet precautions:
- Neisseria Meningitidis or Haemophilus Influenzae Meningitis (continues for 24 hours after the start of antibiotic therapy)
- Influenza
- Mumps, rubella (German Measles)
- Pertussis
Airborne Precautions
- Requires private room with negative air pressure.
- Place airborne precautions sign on door of patient room; keep door closed.
- Anyone entering room must wear an N95 particulate respirator. If the patient must leave the room, patient must wear a surgical mask.
Diseases requiring airborne precautions:
- Tuberculosis (pulmonary or laryngeal)
- Chickenpox (Isolation for chickenpox or disseminated herpes zoster also requires a private room with negative air pressure. Place chickenpox isolation sign on the patient room door; keep door closed. Anyone not immune, or not aware of their immune status, should not enter the room if other immune healthcare workers are available.)
Contact Precautions
- Contact Precautions are used for those patients known or suspected to have serious illnesses easily transmitted by contact, direct or indirect.
- Gloves are required for all staff entering the room.
- A gown is required if you anticipate that your clothes will have contact with the patient.
Examples would be gastrointestinal, respiratory, skin, or wound infections or colonization with multi-drug resistant bacteria such as MRSA or VRE. Others would be Clostridium Difficile, E-Coli 0157:H7, shigella, RSV, scabies and lice. Other diseases outlined in the Infection Control Manual or the online policy “Isolation; Standard and Transmission Based Precautions”
Hepatitis B Vaccine
Call Employee Health for an appointment: ext. 56099. The Hepatitis B Vaccine is administered in 3 doses and must be spaced out over a six-month period of time. You must have all three doses to be considered immunized. Since medical students are here for only a short period of time, they are responsible for making sure they receive all three doses wherever they may travel to next.
Information on the City of Fort Lauderdale/Weston
The Student Education Office can provide you with information on restaurants, shopping centers, museums, etc. in the area. Check the Showtime section in the Friday edition of the Sun Sentinel newspaper and City Link, a free weekly publication on stands beginning every Wednesday, for information on what’s going on in the area during your stay with us. Visit Fort Lauderdale’s web site before you are scheduled to rotate with us for the latest updates on what is happening in the city.
Medical Library
The A. Lorraine and Sigmund Goldblatt Medical Library is located on the first floor of the Clinic Building on the Weston campus. Texts and journals do not circulate and are to be used in the Library. Four Computer workstations are available in the Library to access Medline and other library resources through the internet.
The Library is open Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. There is no after-hour access available.
Scientific Publications
The department produces the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, the Cleveland Clinic’s medical journal. To obtain current or back issues of the Journal you may visit the the Library. You may also be placed on the mailing list for the Journal, however, there is a charge for subscriptions. You may contact the office by phoning 216.444.2662.
Teaching Conferences & Postgraduate Courses
Weston
Internal Medicine Residents Morning Report
8:00-9:00 a.m. and 12:00 a.m., every weekday
JCC Rooms 1-2
Medical Grand Rounds
12:00 –1:00 p.m., every 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Wednesday
JCC Rooms 1-2
Surgical Grand Rounds
7:00-8:00 a.m., last Thursday of the month
JCC Rooms 1-2
Colorectal Surgery, Internal Medicine, Neurology and other training programs and Departments, have a variety of conferences each day in the Jagelman Conference Center (JCC), 1st Floor Clinic Building, Weston campus. A list of lectures is available from the Graduate Medical Education Office.
There are more than 12 postgraduate courses held each year. You may attend any portion of these courses, time permitting. Your first obligations are to your elective and patients.
General Questions
If you have questions about your rotation or if a problem arises, please contact the Medical Student Education Office and talk with the Medical Student Coordinator. We can be reached at ext. 954.659.6211. We are here to help!
Absence During Your Rotation
Excused absences are limited to two days during the four-week rotation. Unexcused absences may result in a grade of unsatisfactory or incomplete for the rotation.
Medical Students Writing in Patients Charts
When you are writing in a patient’s chart, we ask that after you sign your name, you also write “Medical Student” and your medical school out in full after your name. This way all persons concerned with the chart may keep track of everyone who is writing notes, as the names of Medical Students are often not familiar to those involved. It is necessary that your notes be countersigned. When writing in charts, please use the full date and the time, a.m. and p.m.
Evaluations – Yours and Ours
If your school asks for an evaluation of your performance on their form, please be certain that it is provided to the Medical Student Education Office by your arrival date. Please do not submit your evaluation form directly to the attending in your medical department. We are not able to follow up on evaluations given directly to departments and often no copy of the evaluation is made. Cleveland Clinic in Florida forms will be submitted to the Dean of Students Affairs or another designated official of your school if your school does not provide us with their form. If there is an office other than the Dean’s office at your school to which the evaluations are to be sent, be certain the name and address of the individual to receive your evaluation is submitted to our office.
Prior to the completion of your elective, you are expected to complete a form to evaluate your experience here. Please complete this form and return it to the Medical Student Education Office before you leave. This information is very important as it provides us with critical information about our rotations, what is good, bad, etc. If you have any questions about the use of evaluations here at Cleveland Clinic in Florida, please feel free to ask for additional information. Final grades will not be forwarded to your school until you have completed evaluations.
We look forward to seeing you and hope your stay with us is an educationally rewarding one. If you have any questions we did not cover here, please feel free to contact the Education Office – we will be happy to assist you in any way we can.
Cleveland Clinic in Florida reserves the right to terminate a student’s rotation at any time in the event that the student’s performance jeopardizes a patient’s well-being or performance is unable to achieve the objectives of the educational experience.
For Further Information
Please contact the Department of Medical Student Education if you need additional information.
Graduate Medical / Medical Student Education
Cleveland Clinic in Florida
2950 Cleveland Clinic Boulevard
Weston, Florida 33331
Phone: 954.659.6211
866.293.7866 ext. 56211
Fax: 954.659.6216
Email: Gme@ccf.org
Cleveland Clinic in Florida shall admit students of any race, color, religion, sex, age, national origins or ancestry, handicap, or status as a disabled or Vietnam veteran, to all rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to all of the students involved in any of the Clinic’s educational programs.
Cleveland Clinic in Florida will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, nation origins or ancestry, handicap, or status as a disabled or military veteran, in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, training programs, stipend awards and all other such administrated programs.
