Clinical Training

Clinical training follows a domain-specific sequence of courses, workshops and supervised clinical experience. Before beginning clinical training in a particular domain, students must successfully complete the required courses and workshop(s) in that domain. 

Courses provide the foundational knowledge needed for clinical practice. Workshops allow students to apply this knowledge to clinical procedures, develop practical skills and receive feedback from faculty; they also provide faculty the opportunity to assess the students’ readiness to progress to supervised clinical training. 

Workshops are offered in early summer each year. The program includes two required online workshops – hearing aids and cochlear implants. Online workshops are structured similarly to online courses and include required synchronous sessions, typically about one hour/week. The program also includes three required hands-on workshops – diagnostics, hearing aids, cochlear implants. Hands-on workshops are typically conducted over 3-4 days (each) at Drexel University’s Elkins Park Campus. International students traveling to the U.S. to participate in these workshops may need to obtain an appropriate short-term student visa or other authorization, as applicable. 

Students may participate in a workshop only after completing the courses required for that workshop. The sequence (courses à workshops à clinical training) applies separately to each of the three clinical training domains: diagnostics, hearing aids and cochlear implants. Completion of the prerequisites for one domain does not necessarily qualify a student to begin clinical training in another domain. 

Before clinical training can begin, an appropriate clinical training site and clinical supervisor must be identified and approved. 

The clinical training site must provide the services relevant to the intended training and have the facilities and equipment necessary for students to obtain the required clinical experiences. Because individual sites differ in their patient populations, services and equipment, students may need to complete training at more than one site to satisfy all program requirements. 

Clinical supervisors must: (1) hold at least a master’s degree in Audiology; (2) be appropriately licensed or otherwise authorized to provide audiological care in the jurisdiction in which the clinical training occurs; and (3) be willing and available to provide the level of supervision required by the program and applicable local regulations. 

Because students are in various locations around the world, students are responsible for the initial identification of potential clinical sites and supervisors in their local or regional area. The students’ familiarity with their local professional community can be particularly valuable in identifying suitable opportunities. The Program Director (or designee) will subsequently review proposed sites and supervisors to determine whether they are appropriate for the intended clinical training. 

Approval of a site or supervisor does not, by itself, authorize a student to begin clinical training. Once a site and supervisor have been approved, the University must establish a contractual or affiliation agreement with the site. The entire process, from identifying a suitable site and supervisor to executing the necessary agreement, can take several months. Students should, therefore, begin planning well in advance of the term in which they hope to begin clinical training. 

Clinical training sites may also impose their own onboarding or eligibility requirements, such as background checks, health or immunization documentation, etc. Students are responsible for completing applicable site requirements before beginning their clinical training. 

ISSS = International Scholars and Students Services

Registration & credits 

• Students must be registered for the clinical training course while completing supervised clinical training. A minimum of 7.5 clinical training credits is required for graduation. 
• Clinical training is typically distributed across multiple academic terms. The number of clinical hours completed in an individual term may vary depending on the student’s clinical training plan, site availability, prerequisite completion and progress toward program requirements. 
• Students can register for clinical training in 1.5 credit increments depending on the individual circumstances. The number of credits should be proportionate to the expected number of clinical hours. 

Clinical training hours 

• Students must complete a minimum of 400 hours of supervised clinical training. 
• These hours are intended to represent substantive clinical experience and consist of direct patient care and related activities, rather than simply the amount of time a student is physically present in a clinical setting. 
• Students should maintain their clinical training logs throughout each term rather than attempting to reconstruct their experiences at the end of the term. 

Required clinical experiences 

• Clinical training must provide experience across all three required domains 
  • Audiology diagnostics, including basic and advanced procedures; 
  • Hearing aids; and 
  • Cochlear implants. 
• Students must also obtain clinical experience with both pediatric and adult populations. 
• The program establishes minimum clinical training requirements within these areas. Students are responsible for monitoring their progress toward these requirements in collaboration with their clinical supervisor and the Program Director. 
• A single clinical site may not provide every required experience. Depending on the services and patient populations available at a particular site, additional clinical sites or training experiences may be necessary to complete all program requirements. 

Documentation & evaluation 

• Students must document their clinical experiences throughout training. 
• At the end of each academic term in which clinical training is completed, students are required to submit:
  • A clinical training log providing a detailed record of time spent on specific clinical activities and procedures; 
  • Case reports with supporting clinical data based on patients encountered during clinical training in that term, with all materials appropriately deidentified to protect patient confidentiality; and 
  • A clinical skills evaluation completed by the clinical supervisor. 
• These materials serve several purposes: they document progress toward required clinical hours and experiences, provide evidence of the student’s developing ability to integrate knowledge with clinical practice, and allow supervisors and program faculty to evaluate the student’s developing clinical competencies. 
• Students should review their progress periodically during each term rather than waiting until the end of the term to identify missing experiences. If a site is not providing sufficient opportunities in a required area, the student should discuss this with the supervisor and Program Director so that alternative experiences can be considered. 

The MSCA clinical training requirements are designed to meet the educational requirements of the MSCA program. Requirements governing clinical practice, student supervision, professional licensure, registration or authorization may differ by state, province, country or other jurisdiction. 

Students are responsible for becoming familiar with requirements applicable to clinical training in the jurisdiction in which they plan to complete their experience and for communicating those requirements to program staff when necessary. Students and program staff will work together to determine whether proposed training arrangements can satisfy both MSCA program requirements and applicable local requirements. 

Students should also investigate professional licensure or practice requirements in any jurisdiction in which they intend to practice after graduation. These requirements may differ from the educational and clinical training requirements established by the MSCA program. Completion of the MSCA degree and its clinical training requirements does not, by itself, guarantee eligibility for professional licensure, certification, registration or practice in a particular jurisdiction.