Unit Policy
Title
Department of Health Sciences, Physician Assistant Program: Policy on Classroom and Clinical Setting Attire
Introduction
Purpose
This Policy establishes attire requirements for Physician Assistant (PA) Program (Program) students (Students) in Classroom Settings and Clinical Settings.
Scope
This Policy applies to all Program students while learning or performing activities in Classroom Settings and Clinical Settings.
Policy
Policy Statement
The Program oversees attire requirements for its Students. Students must be professionally attired in a manner which reflects positively upon the Program, the PA profession, and on Students’ interactions with peers, and working relationships with other professionals.
Classroom Attire Requirements
In Classroom Settings, all Students must wear clothing that is not ripped, torn, or stained.
Each Program course syllabus may outline its own specific requirements and attire exceptions/expectations in compliance with this Policy. In settings that include patient contact, including standardized patient encounters, the Clinical Setting requirements below will be applicable and enforced.
UNC Medical Center Clinical Setting and Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs)
In Clinical Settings at UNC Medical Center ("UNCMC" or "Hospital"), including during any patient or standardized patient-facing encounters, Students must adhere to the following standards:
Identification in the Clinical Setting and OSCEs
Students must wear their Program-issued name tags so that they can be clearly identified and distinguished from other professionals, e.g., physicians, medical students, and other health professions students and graduates at all times while engaged in clinical activities. Program-issued name tags present according to the following:
Student Name, Physician Assistant Student
UNC PA Program
Students must wear their UNC School of Medicine (SOM)-issued identification (ID) badge on the upper right side of their white coat. The SOM ID badges must be fully visible and may not be altered in any manner except as determined by clinical necessity (e.g., special stickers for newborn nursery access).
White Coats
Students are issue one Program-issued white coat at the beginning of their cohort’s first semester of the Program. In the event a Student needs to have their Program-issued white coat replaced, the Student will be responsible for the cost of the replacement. Students must wear the Program-embroidered short, white coat with their Program-issued name tag attached and centered below the embroidered “Health Sciences” title on the left chest pocket while in Clinical Settings and during certain laboratory sessions, simulation exercises, OSCEs and any other times as directed by a course director. The white coats must not be soiled, ripped, or stained. A Student’s white coat must be their outermost clothing.
Scrubs
In areas of the Hospital where Hospital-issued scrubs are provided, Students should change from non-Hospital issued clothes to Hospital-issued scrubs at the Hospital at the beginning of their shifts. At the end of their shifts, Students should change back into their non-Hospital issued clothes and leave the scrubs in an appropriate location, as directed by the Hospital, to be laundered.
In general, Hospital-issued scrubs should not be worn outside of the Hospital. Scrubs are expected to be clean when worn in a public area of the Hospital (e.g., areas of the Hospital accessible to non-Hospital employees such as hallways, lobbies, etc.) and should be covered with a white coat. Scrubs must be worn in compliance with Hospital policies, including those of individual Hospital departments, as applicable.
Footwear
Students must wear closed-toed shoes in all patient care, laboratory, and standardized patient settings. Shoes should be clean and in good repair.
The following are not acceptable footwear for patient care, lab, and standardized patient settings:
- Flip flops/sandals or any footwear exposing toes
- Slippers
- Shoes with lights or wheels
External Site Clinical Setting
The Program routinely uses clinical sites outside UNC Health (“External Sites”) for Student placements. Students must adhere to the attire standards established by the External Sites at which they are placed while at those sites.
Identification and White Coats
Students placed at External Sites must adhere to the requirements above applicable to Clinical Settings at UNCMC regarding identification and white coats. However, in the event such requirements conflict with an External Site’s policies, Students must adhere to the policies of the External Site.
Policy Violations
Students who violate this Policy may be:
- asked to change into appropriate attire;
- removed from a clinical site;
- referred for an advising meeting for concerns for professionalism; or
- upon a repeat violation, referred to the Student Progress Committee for further professionalism concerns.
Students will receive an unexcused absence for class time missed because of a violation of this Policy.
Students with specific concerns regarding this Policy should discuss their concern with the Program’s Director of Clinical Education at paprogram@unc.edu.
Definitions
Classroom Setting: The physical or virtual environment where Students engage in academic instruction, coursework, or non-clinical learning activities. This includes lecture halls, seminar rooms, laboratories (when not involving patient care), simulation spaces without standardized patients, and any other location designated for didactic education. Classroom settings do not include clinical sites or patient-facing encounters, including standardized patient Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs).
Clinical Setting: Any environment where students engage in patient-facing activities or simulated patient care encounters. This includes hospitals, clinics, outpatient facilities, and other healthcare sites where students interact with patients or standardized patients. Clinical Settings also encompass simulated exercises involving patient care with standardized patient Objective Structured Clinical Examinations.
Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs): A standardized assessment tool used to evaluate a student's clinical and/or technical skills in a simulated environment.
UNC Medical Center (UNCMC or Hospital): All UNC Hospitals' facilities (including the Hillsborough Campus) and the clinical patient care programs of the School of Medicine of UNC-Chapel Hill (including UNC Faculty Physicians.
Related Requirements
External Regulations
- Section A3.01 of the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) Accreditation Standards for PA Education
- Section A3.04 of the ARC-PA Accreditation Standards for PA Education
Contact Information
Primary Contact
Name: Administrative Support Specialist
Telephone: 919-962-8008
Email: paprogram@unc.edu