Placement Requests - Splitting, Linking and Merging Requests

Placing Agency Related Guide (PARG)

Summary:
This guide provides scenarios and instructions for Splitting, Linking, or Merging placement requests.

Splitting is done using the Advanced Scheduler. An existing request is modified to add another split placement request (for different destinations or different dates in a rotation). There is another guide in the knowledge base specific to the Advanced Schedule only.
Merging is taking two independent requests and making them into a split request in reverse (not using the Advanced Scheduler to create the split, but when the merge is complete, the Advanced Scheduler opens to allow the merge to be managed like a split request).
Linking visually "chains" two requests together, for consideration together.

Icons:

	Advanced Scheduler - no splits exist
	Advanced Scheduler - splits exist
	Placement Request is split with another request
	This icon in the Advanced Scheduler will allow you to unsplit the split
	Placement Request is marked for Linking but is not linked yet
	Placement Request is linked with the request appearing below/above it in the inbox
	Icon used to undo links

Background:
There are situations where placement requests involve more than one destination, such as:

Split Placement: all students and Instructors assigned to the parent move across all split destinations. Split Placement: all students and Instructors assigned to the parent move across all split destinations.

Linked Placement: Instructors move across destinations; students don't!

An instructor-led group of students will be split across more than one destination and will be supervised by the assigned instructor. Students and instructors will spend time on/move between destinations. In alternate observations, the student may not be accompanied by the instructor the entire time, but the instructor is nearby with the main group.
Example: A group of 8 is on a Surgical Inpatient Unit. The split can be set up as a rotation into the OR so that a different student always attends the mandatory OR rotation over the 8 week period of the placement; it can also be set up as an alternate observation indicating one student may be going to the OR on the days indicated (but every single date may not be used).
A student in an Individual Placement can move across multiple destinations. Example: A cardiac tech student may in one course be assigned to the Cardiology department in the parent request, and then have split placements to the Diabetic/Cardio clinic, the Cardiac Rehab Unit, and Cardiac Surgery - and these splits could be at same site, or across agencies and different sites.
The student(s) and faculty are assigned on the assignment worksheet only to the initial/primary/parent request; by default the same student(s) and faculty will be assigned to every split made from the original request. (There is more than one reference number for the split placements in this single practicum (course) experience - but only one assignment from the assignment worksheet).

Two groups on different destinations will be supervised by a single instructor. Students will NOT move across destinations.
Example: Group A is on the East unit and Group B is on the west Unit. Students assigned to Group A remain on the East side, and students in Group B remain on the west side, but the single instructor moves back and forth between the two groups on the East and West units throughout the shift.
Specific students are assigned to each unique placement request that is linked (there is only one reference number per student for this entire practicum).
Normally linking means the Post Secondary school only has one instructor and the linking is added to show the school would like these requests considered together for that reason.

Splitting a Group across Destinations (Advanced Schedule)
In this example, a group of 6 students will be split so that 4 students are placed in a cardiology unit and 2 students in a clinic, and students will take turns rotating into the clinic (they will move across destinations). Create the primary (first/original/parent) placement request for the group and copy to Outbox in preparation for sending: In Outbox, click the advanced schedule icon to launch the Advanced Schedule screen.
3. Click Add to create a new split destination:
4. Enter the destination group size: that is the number of students that will be at this destination at any one time. The overall group has six students, however this split will never have more than two students attend at any one time, so we have entered 2. 5. In this scenario: do not select the Optional rotation because students will be present in the clinic for all shifts. (see below for definitions of "optional" vs. "mandatory"). Mandatory Rotation: the split will be used on every shift; reduce the destination group size in the primary request to indicate 4 students only will be present at any one time on the primary request). Optional Rotation: the split will not necessarily be used on every shift: click the check box to indicate this is an optional rotation; the primary request should be left indicating 6 students will attend. Do enter the maximum that may attend the split at any one time (2 in this scenario). In this example, the numbers will add up to 8 (6 on PR 25464 and up to 2 in the new split being created). The word "Option" will appear. 6. From the drop down lists select the Agency, Site, Service and Destination. It is possible to split a request between two or more different agencies. 7. In this scenario we will leave the dates exactly the same as the parent (original request 25464), because this is a rotation and all dates between the start and end date will have two students attend. 8. Click the green check mark to save and continue;
9. Click the edit (pencil) icon on the primary (original) placement request in order to:
Edit the Primary group to reduce the destination group size to 4 students (from 6), which will be the maximum size of the group attending this destination at any one time. Click the green check mark to save the changes.
The Advanced Schedule now displays: The Primary group with a destination size of 4 students, The mandatory rotation destination group size of 2 students, and The sizes balance (4/6 + 2/6 = 6/6). The student hours are also divided. To see this displayed in the outbox, click: Return to Outbox.
The outbox now displays a small lightning bolt icon, which indicates the second PR 25465 was created from the PR above it: 25464. The other change is that the Advanced Schedule icon has changed from black to red, indicating the advanced scheduler is activated. There is an outbox view option to place a check mark in front of Hide Other Destinations in split placements.
Splitting an Individual Request (Advanced Schedule) An individual placement (e.g. preceptorship) should be split when the student will spend time in more than one destination. In the Outbox, click the Advanced Schedule icon.
2. Click the add icon.
3. Select the appropriate Agency, Site, Service and Destination for the second rotation in this placement. 4. Click the calendar icon to choose a new start date for this placement at this destination (we will need to go back later and adjust the end date on the previous placement. You could also adjust the end date if this is only the second of several rotations during the duration of this single placement.
5. Click the green check markto save this new Placement Request (including the new destination and start/end date).
The total hours now show in red: the course is only 200 hours long, but our changes now show the added placement has changed that to 400 hours.
6. Click the pencil/edit icon beside PR 25467 to adjust the end date and the hours for the parent/primary/original Placement Request.
7. Click the end date calendar icon to choose a new end date for the parent request.
8. Adjust the hours for this portion of the rotation at this destination. 9. Save the changes by clicking the green check mark
The hours (250) still show more than the course (200). 10. Click the pencil icon to perform further edits on the split request: we need to reduce the hours.
11. Reduce the hours so the total between both placements adds up to the course total. 12. Save the Changes by clicking the green check mark . If destination hours aren't adjusted, then each destination (and supervisor or preceptor) would receive the full "credit," resulting in duplication of hours. The Receiving Agency may expect these changes to be made before accepting the placement.
Change the individual shift schedules if needed. In this example, the student will follow the preceptor's schedule (various days/various times) on the Cardiac Unit, but when in the EEG placement, the hours are Mon-Friday, days. This information may be changed by opening the details icon, and changing the placement information tab, or it could be changed by clicking and editing the individual shift schedule . Click: Return to outbox.
When you send split requests, you need to send the primary request and all of the splits as each is a separate placement request requiring a response from the receiving agency.
Unsplitting To unsplit a split, go to the Advanced Scheduler for the Parent placement and then look for the unsplit icon located on the Child placement area. *You do not have to unassign the students before clicking that icon.
Click the unsplit icon and you will get this warning message.
Once you press OK, the Parent and whichever Child placement that you have chosen to unsplit will then be unsplit. You will then see them as separate placements in the Inbox. You will see that the Child (26503 as example) does not have any students assigned to it as when it was unsplit the students assigned to the Child placement will be unassigned automatically if it is the same Course. *Students can only assigned to one placement per Course, per Term.
You will then be able to assign new students to that unsplit placement
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Linking Requests (available in the Outbox only)
Background and Filters The purpose of linking requests is to signal to the receiving agency that these requests should be considered together, as when one is not accepted, the other request may no longer be viable as both requests are needed. (One instructor is overseeing both groups - if only one group is accepted, that accepted group may need to cancel so the placing coordinator can try again at another facility where both groups can be accepted in proximity to one another). Only Placing Coordinators can Link or Un-link requests. Requests of any status can be linked or un-linked. Linking does not guarantee that requests will be accepted or declined together – each destination may accept or decline their own request as appropriate, regardless of how the other linked destinations may respond. Linked sets sort to the top of the inbox and Outbox regardless of the sort by setting that is chosen in the Advanced inbox/outbox Filters. A checkbox to display "Group Linked Sets" is available in both the Inbox (Receiving Agency) and the Outbox (Placing Agency), and allows users to display linked sets together (or not). If Group Linked Sets is selected, linked requests are displayed together and they sort to the top of the Inbox or Outbox, followed by un-linked requests that are sorted as per the "Sort By" filter (e.g. by Date or Destination). If Hide Destinations is selected, linked requests retain their Un-link icons but don't appear in sets, and they sort according to the "Sort By" filter. This setting allows a true sort of all Inbox or Outbox records. Un-link icons are displayed at all times, but are functional only when Group Linked Sets is selected. You can Un-link a request only when it's displayed together with other linked requests in the same set.
Link Requests: Click to place check marks in the boxes to the left of the placement requests you wish to select for linking. At the Action drop down list select: Mark requests for Linking. Click the Submit button.
A green background message proclaims: X Placement Requests were updated as specified - however, the linking has not occurred yet! Instead, at the top of your outbox, a copy of the list of the placement requests marked for linking will be bundled together. You can continue to add to this list by now marking additional placement requests for linking. (Often you may have multiple pages of requests and you may need to filter the outbox to mark other placements in that course). The bundle displaying at the top of the outbox are copies; meanwhile, the rest of the outbox will display the marked for linking icon on the placement requests that are copied to the queue marked for linking at the top of the outbox. Review the bundle of requests marked for linking at the top of the outbox before proceeding. Click the garbage can icon to remove a request from the bundle marked for linking. To start over: clicking the Un-Mark All button, to clear the entire bundle of requests marked for linking. 4. When all of the requests needed for the linking are assembled at the top of the outbox and you are ready to link, click the button: Link Requests. Caution: Marking one request from a set of split destinations (made with the advanced scheduler) will automatically mark all the split requests in the set for linking; this can result in a cluttered Inbox/Outbox and therefore linking sets of multiple split rotations should be avoided.
A green background message will appear that says: The selected Placement Requests have been linked. The bundled list will disappear. In the outbox, (and when sent in the Receiving Coordinators inbox) the requests be joined by the linking icon .
6. To remove a request from a linked set, click the Un-link icon. This will only remove the link beside the specific request where you click the icon, and will not un-link all of the other requests in a set of 3 or more. In this example with only 2 linked requests, clicking one of the unlink icons will remove the link entirely. Un-linking may be used when: One of the linked requests is incorrect or no longer required, and should be cancelled. One of the linked requests was declined, but the other request(s) in the linked set are still active (e.g. sent or accepted). A shared rotation (for 2 or more groups) is declined or cancelled, so students in the linked groups will not have access to the rotation.
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Merging Requests (available in the Outbox only, when filtered to a single course)
Merging placements is done in the Outbox, and allows two separate requests to be combined into a split request with multiple destinations - as if using the Advanced Scheduler in reverse. Quick entry requests cannot be merged. Requests cannot be merged if the students were assigned directly to placement requests on the Enrollment worksheet (this dates from an older period of time when some Physiotherapy programs were assigning students on the Enrollment worksheet and bypassing the Assignment worksheet - an antiquated process which cannot be undone). The Placement Request with the lowest reference number will become the new primary/parent request, regardless of how the Outbox is sorted. The reference numbers may be swapped using the Advanced Scheduler, if required (for example if the primary request is later declined and another destination should become the primary request). If any of the selected requests are already part of a split set before merging, then all destinations in the split set will be merged. Once a placement request has been merged, student(s) can only be assigned to the primary/parent request; the student(s and faculty) assigned to the parent/primary request are automatically assigned to every split from the initial placement request. Preparation: Placement status cannot be cancelled or declined. Group Request total size must match – e.g. an attempt to merge groups of size "4/4" and "5/5" will not succeed. Filter the outbox to ONE COURSE only if all courses was selected.
In the Outbox and filtered to a single course: Click to place check marks in the boxes adjacent to the requests to select them. At the Action Drop down box select Merge selected PRs. Click Submit. An online popup window will remind you of the conditions required to merge requests: if you have met the conditions, click: Okay.
If the merge is successful, the selected requests will now be combined in a split set, and the Advanced Schedule screen will launch automatically with the usual red warning to review and adjust dates, destination/total hours, and group sizes as needed. (See above, or for more details please see the document specific to the advanced schedule.
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