Home › Schools › Onboarding guide
Clinical rotation onboarding: a guide for coordinators
Clearing students is half the job. The other half is getting them through each site's onboarding: orientation modules, badges, system access, parking and day-one details. Here is a plan that works term after term.
Student or director? Log in to Pact Schools
Updated October 24, 2026 · Pact Compliance LLC, Cordova, TN · For college and post-secondary programs, not K-12
Step 1: Get the site's packet early
Ask each site's clinical education contact for this term's student packet as soon as placements are confirmed. Sites change their lists between terms. Look for:
- the requirement list and time windows, and anything new since last term;
- orientation or e-learning modules students must finish, and the deadline;
- forms the site wants signed (confidentiality, computer use, photo release);
- badge, parking and EHR access steps, and who requests them;
- dress code and where to report on day one.
Step 2: Put the site's rules in one place
Add the site's extra items to your program's list for students placed there, with due dates that leave time to fix problems. In Pact Schools, each site can carry its own rules, so a student placed at two sites sees both lists.
Step 3: Place students and post shifts
Place each student with dates, unit, shift and instructor. For programs where students choose shifts, post the shifts with seats and let students claim them. Students see their placements, the site's student information and their own schedule.
Step 4: Clear students, then prove it
Two weeks out, work the list of students who are behind. One week out, send the site what it asked for: a share link to the students placed there, or a verification letter listing every student who meets each requirement as of today. Anyone left out is listed with the reason, so you know who to call.
Step 5: Day one and after
- Confirm the instructor has the roster and the site's contact has the list.
- Watch for items that expire during the rotation, like CPR cards and seasonal flu deadlines.
- Note what changed this term, so next term's packet request is faster.
- Check the affiliation agreement end date. Pact reminds you before it runs out.
Where Pact fits
Pact Compliance Review checks every upload, usually within minutes, 24/7. It approves the document and records its expiration date, or tells the student exactly what is wrong and what to upload instead. Anything only your program can decide, such as an exemption request, comes to you. Drug test results and background check reports are never part of it: they come straight from the lab and the screening partner.
Students and your staff get 24/7 help by chat.
Common questions
How early should we ask a site for its packet?
As soon as placements are confirmed. Sites update their lists between terms, and orientation modules often have their own deadlines.
What do sites usually want before day one?
Proof that each student is cleared, finished orientation modules and signed site forms. Many also handle badges and system access themselves.
Can students see where and when they're placed?
Yes. Students see their site, dates, shift, unit, instructor and the site's student information.
Does Pact request badges or EHR access?
No. The site handles those. Pact keeps the requirements, placements, shifts and proof in one place.