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Clinical affiliates - all trainees

Please read this information carefully, become acquainted with the list of 5 requirements plus a checklist that you will need to download, complete, and submit to your designated VA specialty trainee coordinator.

Stanford medical students: Your primary coordinator will be LeeAnn Robbins, 650-493-5000, ext. 65881, for initial processing and badging. After you get a badge, you will work with the designated specialty clerkship coordinator at VA Palo Alto through your point of contact at Stanford.

Please check the list of VA Palo Alto trainee coordinators for questions and/or assistance with the process.

For students coming from schools other than Stanford: The requirements below still apply. Please download the documents, complete them, and coordinate with your school to forward these to the corresponding point of contact at VA Palo Alto. You must download, complete, and submit the packet with all required documents.

Advanced trainees returning under a different appointment, like previously medicine interns, returning as anesthesia categorical interns-residents or fellows, will be required to submit a new packet with all the forms listed under “requirements” below (including the checklist).

VA authorizes your rotations as a clinical trainee based on the role that you will be appointed under, and you may be required to re-fingerprint if your VA ID badge has already expired. Please work with your designated coordinator to get this documentation submitted.

Scan and save each document separately. The title should be your last name in CAPS plus the document name, like SMITH-Fingerprinting Form.

  • Postal mail (must be postmarked no later than the due date)
  • Email/electronic (School secured messaging okay; no Google.docs/DropBox; no zip files either)

Please follow these instructions when completing, saving, and forwarding your documents (especially Mac users):

  • After you’ve filled out a PDF form in preview, choose “Print” from the file menu and then use the dialog box’s PDF option to save it to a PDF.
  • This converts the information you’ve entered into the forms and turns it into part of the PDF, rasterizing it. Review the form to make sure all the data converted correctly, signatures show up, and you are not missing anything.
  • Though the data won’t be edited anymore, PC receiving users will be able to read/save them.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation; we hope your clinical rotation will be a satisfying, interesting, and fun learning experience.

List of requirements for everyone – your deadline to submit your complete packet to your designated VA trainee coordinator will be May 19, 2023.

If you are out of state, it is best to go to a nearby VA facility to complete “courtesy fingerprinting”, to get the processing of your application expedited, within 4 to 5 weeks prior to arrival in California.

Contact a nearby VA facility; ask to be connected with the office that processes fingerprinting at their location, like Human Resources, VA Police, etc., and make the necessary arrangements. Provide them with the following info to ensure the data will reach our Personnel Security office in Mountain View, CA:

  • Palo Alto VA fingerprints
  • SOI# VA F1
  • SON# 1440

Find a VA facility near you

Remember to bring 2 forms of original IDs with your name matching exactly on both (option 1: first name + last name ONLY on both, or option 2: first name + middle name or middle initial + last name on both; school IDs are no longer accepted for this purpose).

Notify your POC/trainee coordinator at VA Palo Alto to inform them you will be completing courtesy fingerprinting.

Records training for trainees

An online tutorial for the Computerized Patient Records System (CPRS) – the VA's electronic medical record – is available on the web. Please review this prior to your orientation session at VA Palo Alto health care. Tab by tab provides a self-paced overview of CPRS. While it is not necessary to review every module, those dealing with the cover sheet, medications, orders, and notes contain crucial information needed to function safely and efficiently.

CPRS tab by tab: A basic orientation