Students

Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG) is happy to provide opportunities for students from academic programs to receive clinical or job-related experiences.  Responsibility for the care of patients assigned to students and work projects is retained by the department where the student is placed on the ZSFG campus or affiliated program sites. A student placement does not apply to the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) medical students enrolled in clerkships or classes. Whether you are a student, school faculty, or potential ZSFG preceptor, please look at the area below to figure out how to begin. Thank you for your interest in ZSFG!

Students

Students are individuals who are enrolled in an approved academic program that has a current student placement agreement with the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH).  These programs include, but are not limited to, nursing, rehabilitation, health administration, paramedicine, public health, radiology, and nutrition.

A student must be affiliated with an educational institution and collect credits/units for an internship, externship, fieldwork, class requirement, training or dissertation. If the requested placement involves payment or academic credit will not be earned during placement, please contact the Department of Education and Training BEFORE you begin the paperwork.

Check to see if your school and your program is an approved school.
If your school or your program is not on the list, please inform your instructor, preceptor or ZSFG staff contact BEFORE you begin the paperwork.

Students must wear an identification badge with name and picture while on the ZSFG campus.

Students and schools must contact current preceptors/ZSFG staff below for placement availability. If you do not see your area of interest please visit this site for more options. Student must find their own placement as there currently is not a list of available placements.

Preceptors/ZSFG Staff

Preceptors/ZSFG Staff are employed by the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) or a SFDPH subcontractor (like UCSF) and located at a SFDPH facility. It is the responsibility of ZSFG staff or preceptor to provide instruction, supervision and or mentorship to fulfill the student’s educational experience.

In addition, the preceptor will maintain required records, address conflicts or concerns, and evaluate placements. You must keep a hard or electronic copy of the required forms for three years as preceptors/ZSFG staff are solely responsible for the documentation of completing the student placement process.  In the case of an audit, the forms must be readily available.  Please review ZSFG Student Placements Policy 19.05.

Students and school staff must contact the preceptors of interest directly (see list above).  This allows you to see if you can place a student or make future arrangements for the student. Immediately following the student inquiry and open availability, please check the approved schools list to see if the school and program area is already approved.  If not, please contact the Department of Education and Training.

Preceptors and ZSFG staff are not required to take students, even if there is a valid student agreement. It is up to your availability of staff and projects available for students that will determine if placement is available. To help assure you have a space, please use the Student Placement Agreement Form below.

Schools/Faculty

Schools include universities, colleges, technical schools, institutes, high schools (16 or older) or community colleges that offer educational or training opportunities resulting in credit for enrolled students.  Faculty are instructors or coordinators employed by an academic program to provide instruction to students.

Faculty must complete the required form below before instructing students on the ZSFG campus.  Visiting faculty are allowed for five consecutive days or less.  If visiting five consecutive days or more, please contact the Department of Education and Training.

Faculty and visiting faculty must wear an identification badge with name and picture while on the ZSFG campus.

School Staff (placement coordinators, program directors etc.) must assure that the relationship is established with the preceptor if the process is separate from faculty.  One way to assist you in this process is the Student Placement Agreement Form (below), which will help you determine where and how many students you can place at ZSFG with your established contact. To see if placement is available for your student(s) review the list of current preceptors (see list above).  You must contact the potential preceptor directly. 

Examples of Students

  • Nurse Practitioner
  • Nurse
  • Social Worker
  • MPH/MHA
  • Doctoral
  • Physical Therapist
  • Interpreter 

 

Department Contacts

Psychiatry Maria St. John PhD, MFT 415-206-3752
Dietary/Nutrition Site Coordinator 415-206-6286
Health Education/Wellness Center Community Wellness Program Coordinator 415-206-4995
Interpreter Services David Dao 415-206-8665
Nursing and Nurse Practitioners Janet Kosewic 415-206-4191
Paramedicine Sharon Kennedy 415-206-5050
Radiology Site Coordinator 415-206-8020
Rehabilitation Bernadette Courier 415-206-5776
Respiratory John Kelly 415-206-5736
Social Work Trevor Towne 415-206-5822
Compassionate Caregiving Rounds/Spiritual Care Floyd Trammell 415-206-8983
Other Disciplines Department of Education & Training 415-206-4655

We do not place medical students; please contact UCSF for more information. 

Pharmacy is not currently accepting students.

Student Forms

Student Form

Return to your site coordinator unless otherwise instructed. 

Preceptor/ZSFG Staff Forms

Student Placement Agreement Form 

Complete if needed, to assure there is an agreement with when and where the student will be placed.  Please note you are not required to complete this form and it is only for you and the school contact.

Complete only if your student requires:

Please note, an active directory account will need to be made for the student. Follow your department procedure.

Please note, parking and meals are NOT available to students.  In addition, we do not cover health screening costs for Occupational Health services. Student must go to their personal provider or student health center for health records, vaccinations, and/or titers. Fingerprinting is not covered under Student Placements, if it is part of the precepting department's requirements please contact the student's school or Human Resources for assistance.

Student Training Agreements

No student may be placed on the ZSFG campus or affiliated programs without first executing an agreement.  For an up to date list of active agreements, please check this approved list. Remember to check the school and the program, as both need to be covered BEFORE a student is placed.

School not on list?

Contact the Department of Education and Training to begin the process. Please note that this process can take up to 3 months or longer.  Also students, faculty and staff must be prepared to provide contact information for their Dean or Legal/Contracts Department.

School on list, but my program is missing?

Contact the Department of Education and Training to request adding the program to the list.  This process usually takes a week to a month.

What does it look like?

The student training agreements or MOU (memorandum of understanding) is a template we use to develop the agreement between the school and the San Francisco Department of Public Health.  Please review the template for more information.

Orientation

 

All students are required to complete online New Employee Orientation (in person orientation is no longer required).

1

Nursing, Clinical, Medical Students and Medical Residents are required to complete an online orientation module prior to starting their clinical rotation or placement.

2

Non-Clinical Students are required to complete an online orientation within 30 days of their start date.

 

Preceptors/ZSFG Staff

it is your responsibility to check Moodle (the student learning management system) to determine if your student(s) completed the required online New Employee Orientation. It is highly recommended that you print the report and keep for your records. For a tutorial and more information, please click here.

For those departments that require SMART Training

Please register your student to attend New Employee Orientation from 1pm-4:30pm  and mark the SMART ONLY Training option (please note that SMART training is not required, but may be a safety measure needed for some departments and units).

Please note: If you student stays on for more than a year, they must complete New Employee Orientation again as a refresher course (similar to employee annual updates via Halogen).  For example, if you have a student who completes an internship and wants to continue their post-doc work in the same unit/department, they must complete online orientation again to be up to date with any changes that have been implemented at ZSFG.

If you have any questions, please contact the Department of Education & Training at (415) 206-4655.

Identification Badge

Badges must be worn at all times.  If a student/faculty identification badge includes a first/last name and photo, then the student/faculty must wear when on campus.  If the badge does not have your photo or the department/clinic/unit requires a ZSFG badge, the preceptor/ZSFG staff must contact Human Resources (HR) to request a badge.

Identification badges are available at Human Resources, CHN Headquarters at 25th and Potrero.

Drop in hours:
M/W/F 10:00-10:30am
T/Th 2:30-3:00pm

 Step 1

Preceptor/ZSFG staff calls (415.206.5538) HR to make the appointment or the student can drop during above times with a letter on official letterhead with preceptor or supervisor’s signature that includes the following:

  • Student/Faculty Full Name
  • Department/Unit/Clinic
  • Student Title (optional)
  • Start/End Date (optional)

Step 2

Assure that the student/faculty brings valid photo identification to the appointment.

Step 3

Have student/faculty return to preceptor/ZSFG staff at the end of the placement.

For any questions or concerns, please contact below. You are welcome to send a copy of the forms for review (not required) by mail, fax or mail to:

Department of Education and Training
Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital & Trauma Center
1001 Potrero Avenue, Bldg 30, Suite 3200
San Francisco, CA 94110

Phone: 415-206-4655
Fax: 415-206-4450
Email: dph-learning.center@sfdph.org