Your Year In The

Your participation as a Creighton Model FertilityCare^TM System Practitioner Intern will prove to be a very rewarding experience. To assist you in your preparation, please read the following overview of this program.

COURSE SUMMARY

The one year educational program to become a practitioner is a professional program developed according to the basic educational principles utilized in allied health courses. The program is divided into two education phases (EPI and EPII). In addition, there are two supervised practica. The first supervised practicum (SPI) begins at the end of EPI and continues until the beginning of EPII. The second supervised practicum (SPII) begins after EPII and concludes at the time of the final examination in November of the following year. During the second supervised practicum, an On-Site Visit is conducted by your assigned faculty supervisor, for whom the student is responsible for costs of lodging and round trip transportation.

The two education phases are designed to be total immersion learning experiences in order to receive an appropriate foundation of fundamental theoretical knowledge, preparing the student to undertake the clinical component of the course, which is the actual teaching of the Creighton Model FertilityCare^TM System. The clinical phases of the course occur during the supervised practica at the student’s home location. During the entire year, the student will be working under the direct supervision of either a FertilityCare Educator or Supervisor who is a Practitioner with at least one additional year of teaching experience and is specially trained to provide the type of supervision that a practitioner intern requires.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

During the supervised practica you will have a number of assignments to submit to your assigned supervisor for input, evaluation and grading. For these assignments, you will need access to photocopying facilities in order to send copies to your supervisor. In addition, there are specific client quota requirements for the two supervised practica for which you should begin preparing for at this time.

The following client requirements exist for a student enrolled in the Creighton Model FertilityCare^TM System Practitioner Program:

• 6 new clients during EPI (prior to EPII)

• 12 clients (6 new) to be eligible for the on-site visit

• 18 (minimum) total clients to complete the program

ADVANCE COURSE PREPARATIONS

During EPI, you will learn to present the Introductory Session, which is a one hour slide presentation. Since new clients register to participate in your program at that time, we suggest that you schedule your first Introductory Session for an evening time slot two weeks following the end of E P I. In addition, you should schedule three more

Introductory Sessions at one month intervals following your first presentation. You may schedule as many additional Introductory Sessions as you wish to fulfill your client requirements. It is strongly recommended that the scheduling and advance publicity for Introductory Sessions be developed prior to EPI. Advance preparation will allow your supervised practicum to run much more smoothly, better assuring your ability to obtain the required minimum of six (6) new clients prior to EPII.

In addition to the Introductory Sessions, individualized follow-up teaching sessions are conducted with each couple at 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 weeks and also at 6, 9, and 12 months after the initial Introductory Session. You can anticipate that each follow-up will last an average of one hour and that time for preparation and concluding paperwork for a follow-up may involve up to an additional hour.

COURSE TIME, CENTER

AND EQUIPMENT NEEDS

A practical time schedule for which you can anticipate includes:

• studying

• presenting Introductory Sessions

• conducting follow-ups

• preparing and completing office work

• developing program and outreach

• completing assignments

You can expect that you will be involved for a minimum of ten and a maximum of twenty hours per week during these supervised practica. You will be closer to the minimum amount of time if you come from an established program where client development will not be so difficult. However, you should anticipate the use of the maximum amount of time if you need to initiate your own program development and outreach.

In order to conduct the Introductory Sessions, you will need the following:

• Slide projector and screen

• Room large enough to hold three to six couples

• Printed materials that will be provided to you at EPI for distribution to only those couples who decide to make an appointment for follow-up and learn the CREIGHTON MODEL FertilityCare^TM System

The individualized follow-up sessions can be held in a smaller room with a desk or table and a few chairs; no slide projector is necessary for follow-up sessions. All printed materials will be provided to you at EPI to conduct Introductory Sessions and follow-up sessions. In addition, phone accessibility will need to be arranged for clients to contact you.

NETWORKING WITH A

MEDICAL CONSULTANT

It is recommended that an established FertilityCare^TMAffiliate center or a newly developed program that provides the CREIGHTON MODEL FertilityCare^TM System network with a NFP Medical Consultant to provide NaProTECHNOLOGY^® services. This collaboration will be discussed during the course of the program. If a Medical Consultant is not currently available in your community and you are in contact with a local physician who may consider the Medical Consultant program, the Pope Paul VI Institute’s FertilityCareTM Allied Health Education Program will assist you in the recruitment process.

We wish to remind you again that this program is designed to develop your professional skills and ability to deliver the highest quality FertilityCare^TM services possible. If you give attention to these preliminary aspects of preparation, you will find your year to be more productive.