Students

Policies

• Please note that McMaster University and the Michael G DeGroote School of Medicine reserve the right to cancel and/or withdraw any electives if any required documentation is outstanding.

• Once an elective has been secured, changes are not permitted. This applies to dates and specialties. Any requests for changes to a secured elective will only be processed through cancellation and re-application (fees and cancellation policy will apply).

Computer/IT/Patient File Access

In order to set you up with the appropriate computer access, you will need to determine if your elective is taking place at any of the following Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) sites:

• McMaster University Medical Center (MUMC)
• Juravinski
• Hamilton General Hospital (HGH)
• St. Peter’s

If the elective is taking place at any of the sites listed above, this is the process for obtaining computer access:

• Complete the confidentiality agreement form (found on the Confidentiality Form tab) and send it back to your placement contact
• Forms will only be accepted if they are saved and sent as .docx or .pdf files > please title the form as follows: “ELECTIVE START DATE – LAST NAME, FIRST NAME – CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT FORM” – forms that are not received in this format will not be accepted and processed.
• Your computer access will be emailed to you.

• Students requiring computer access at SJH will be sent an email regarding Dovetale computer training.

If your elective is taking place at a HHS site AND St. Joseph’s Hospital, please follow both processes to ensure you get computer access at each site.

***Please note that not all departments will grant computer access, so you will need to contact your placement contact (their name and email can be found on the confirmation email from AFMC) to see if you need access for your elective. If you do not require access, then please ignore the process above ***

Immunization Requirements

The AFMC Student Portal Immunization and Testing Form (Including Appendix E on the 2018 form) is required. Students must be cleared for clinical placement by the McMaster Health Screening Office before they may start their elective. For more information, visit: https://fhs.mcmaster.ca/healthscreening/electives.html.

For immunization questions or concerns, contact the Health Screening Office, email hrsadmin@mcmaster.ca, telephone 905-525-9140 ext 22249​

Registration Day

Registration will take place on the Monday of the first day of your elective at McMaster University in the Michael G DeGroote Centre for Learning (MDCL) building in Room 3101. MDCL is located at McMaster University’s main campus, located at 1280 Main St. West, Hamilton. Please note that if your elective start date falls on a holiday, then we will register at the same time on the Tuesday morning.

Typically, registration will start at 8:30am. However, if we have a large group of students registering with us that morning, the start time will be staggered and is likely that you will be asked to register earlier or later than 8:30am. An email from Emma Whitford will be sent out the week before your elective start date to confirm what time you will be starting. Please do not be late to your scheduled registration time.

If your elective is taking place outside of Hamilton OR at a private practice, then you are NOT required to register with us, you can head straight to your elective.

When you arrive at MDCL Room 3101 for registration, please have a seat in our foyer. Someone will come to get you. Registration will consist of the following: (i) confirmation of your elective details with Emma Whitford (or another staff member), (ii) receiving a security and scrubex access card and (iii) having your photo taken for your ID badge. Your security and scrubex access and your ID badge will all be on 1 card. This card will provide you security access to any restricted areas at whichever hospital(s) you will be at (if you are at more than one hospital, please let whoever is registering you know), it will provide you access to the ScrubEx machines at the hospital and it will act as an ID badge. If you have any questions at that time, please do not hesitate to ask.

McMaster, Juravinski, St. Joseph’s and Hamilton General:

1. Please note that there are loaner pagers available to visiting students if needed.
2. Students completing electives at ANY OF THE HOSPITALS IN HAMILTON can pick up pagers from the Telecommunications office at McMaster
3. The Telecommunications office is on the first floor of the McMaster Hospital, behind the red elevators.
4. Look for the sign that reads “telecommunications office”
5. Enter the room and head straight back to the office in front of you.

Hamilton Health Sciences Hospitals (McMaster, Juravinski, and Hamilton General):

• To obtain a dictation number while at any of the Hamilton Health Sciences Hospitals you need to call the Medical Transcription office at (905) 521-2100 Ext. 73838. Please note this office closes at 4pm daily.

St. Joseph’s Hospital:

• To obtain a dictation number while at St. Joseph’s Hospital please call 905.522.1155 ext 32078

• There are short white coats available in the Health Sciences bookstore which is located on the first floor of the McMaster hospital, in front of the red elevators, just outside of the cafeteria.
• Please check with the department/supervisor that you will be working with to see if you require a short white coat for that elective.

All Hamilton Health Sciences Hospital Sites + St. Joseph's Hospital:

• There are discount rates available for visiting students to park at any at any of the hospitals in Hamilton. After you register with us you can take your ID badge, along with a copy of your confirmation letter to the Parking Office at McMaster Hospital to arrange this.
• The Parking office is located in the RED section in the parking garage (near sign for Main St. West exit)
• The discounted rate is: $53.50 for 2 weeks or $102.00 for 4 weeks
• Please do the following when going to the parking office:
  • let the admin know that you are a VISITING UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL STUDENT
  • tell her which hospital(s) your elective is taking place at
  • show her your ID badge provided to you by our office.
• If your elective is taking place at any hospital except St. Joseph’s, you will be given a parking pass at that time and it can be used immediately.
• If you are completing an elective at St. Joseph’s, you will pay for your parking pass in the parking office and they will provide you with a receipt and a card. KEEP THE RECEIPT AND CARD and take it to St. Joseph’s parking office located on the main floor near the Juravinski Tower. You will register your parking pass at SJH. Only once it has been registered at SJH will it be ready to use.

The electives office is located on the 3rd floor of the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning (MDCL), room 3101.

• If you are parking underground in the hospital, you will need to find your way to the BLUE section of the hospital (MUMC is colour coded; purple, blue, red and yellow).
• Once you have located the blue section, take the elevator to the second floor.
• Once you step out of the elevator, take an immediate right turn and then your next immediate left. Turning left down the left hallway will take you across the skywalk from the hospital to the second floor of MDCL.
• Continue following the hallway until you see the elevators on the your right hand side
• Take the elevators up to the 3rd floor
• When stepping out of the elevator, continue straight down the hall and take your second left.
• Continue to the very end of the hall, and our office door is located right after the big sign “Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine” on the right hand side of the wall.

Registration is not mandatory for students to attend. However, if you do not attend, you will not get security access, access to the ScrubEx machines or an ID badge. This will likely make it very difficult to successfully complete your elective, so we suggest you come. 

Unless otherwise indicated by your preceptor/department administrative contact (or the schedule they’ve provided you with), you can come register with us first. 

If your preceptor/department administrative contact has told you to visit with them first, please send us an email as to when we can expect you. 

We suggest that you email your preceptor/department administrative contact to let them know that you will likely be showing up around 9:30am on your first day.

There are ScrubEx machines located at every hospital, so you will have the ability to access scrubs at any hospital. ScrubEx machines are a “tap activated” automatic scrub dispensing machine (essentially a big vending machine for scrubs). We will register your Access Card so that you are able to use the ScrubEx machines at whichever hospital(s) you are at for your elective. 

If you Access Card does not work, contact us at: mdelect@mcmaster.ca to let us know what’s going on.

We do our best to set up ScrubEx access for you prior to your arrival on Monday morning. However, as it is not always possible to have them set up for each student, we ask that if you need scrubs for your elective, please bring an extra pair (or two) with you until we get you access to the ScrubEx machines. 

Security access will take about 24 hours to set up for you and should be ready for you by noon the following day. If by noon the next day you still do not have security access, please contact Emma Whitford AND visit the security office at the hospital you are completing your elective at. You will need to show your ID badge (from us) and let them know you are an undergraduate visiting medical student, the department you are in and what access you need.

We ask that if you have not been able to contact your preceptor that you do not wait until Monday morning at registration (or Friday afternoon at 4:00pm) to share this information with us. Please inform us beforehand so that we can do our best to find out where you’re going and who you’re meeting after registration.

We suggest that you inform your preceptor early on that you will be needing an evaluation completed at the end of your elective. We also suggest that you try to carve out time before leaving your elective to ensure that the evaluation is complete as we are not responsible for ensuring student evaluations are completed once a student has completed an elective. We will not be tracking down preceptors.

We will absolutely mail and/or email an evaluation back to your homeschool as long as the evaluation is complete. As stated above, we will not track down preceptors to complete an evaluation once your elective has finished.

For any questions or concerns before, during or after your elective, you can contact either:

​Visiting Electives Assistant – 905.525.9140 ext. 20256 or ​mdelect@mcmaster.ca
Susheel Gurcha – 905.525.9150 ext. 21134 or gurchas@mcmaster.ca