UHS FAQ
This page addresses common questions related to Volunteer Eligibility, General Inquiries, Onboarding Appointments, and Final Session Orientations.
For questions not covered here, please contact the UCLA Health Sciences Volunteer Office.
Note: For shadowing inquiries, please review the shadowing policy guidelines before reaching out to a coordinator.
The UCLA Health Sciences Volunteer Program does not offer shadowing or observation opportunities.
For Applicants:
- General Questions
- On-Boarding Follow-Up Appointment Questions
- Final Session Orientation Questions
- UCLA Undergraduates Enrolling in 99-199
For Supervisors:
For Applicants
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If a faculty member invites you to shadow, they may not be aware of the official Shadowing Policy. Per UCLA guidelines, individual or one-time shadowing is not permitted.
If you're unsure whether you're part of an approved program, you likely are not. Instead of shadowing, we encourage you to explore UCLA Health volunteer programs for meaningful clinical exposure and experience.
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If we do not have an Opportunity Sign-Up link, unfortunately, you cannot be start the on-boarding process as a UCLA Health Sciences Volunteer or UCLA SRP Student.
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Onboarding appointments and orientations are only completed through scheduled appointments only.
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Volunteers must be able to provide services onsite on a consistent weekly or biweekly basis. If you are unable to do so, we cannot proceed with your onboarding as a UCLA Health Sciences Volunteer or SRP student.
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For office hours and location details, please visit the UCLA Health Sciences Volunteer Office webpage.
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Applicants must be invited by UCLA Health or Health Sciences faculty or staff to serve as a departmental volunteer or SRP student. To begin onboarding, you must receive an Opportunity Sign-Up link from your inviting supervisor.
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If you are receiving any form of credit, stipend, or compensation for your role, you should not be processed as a UCLA Health Sciences Volunteer. Please contact our office for assistance in transitioning to an appropriate title.
Exception: UCLA students receiving SRP or elective course credit may be processed as UCLA SRP99-199 Students through the designated program.
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SRP is available to UCLA students only. For enrollment guidance, students should contact their academic counselors or the UCLA Undergraduate Research Center.
Please note: The UCLA Health Sciences Volunteer Program does not manage contract enrollments. Our role is limited to processing clearances that allow course contract research activities within UCLA Health facilities.
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Volunteers must complete the minimum required hours before becoming eligible to join or apply to another program. For details, please refer to the Volunteer Eligibility Requirements.
Once the minimum hours are fulfilled, you must complete the same pre-screening process to be approved and assigned to a new volunteer role.
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Please refer to the instructions on the Volunteer Dashboard to book your appointment.
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All requirements must be completed before you can proceed to the next step.
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Yes, all appointments are mandatory.
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All Clinical UCLA Health Sciences Volunteers and UCLA SRP Students are required to complete the same onboarding process, which includes a background check, health screening, paperwork, training modules, final orientation session, and a quiz.
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Your onboarding process is specific to the opportunity you registered for under your inviting supervisor and must be approved before you can proceed. If any revisions are needed and the form is still pending approval, this may result in a delay in your clearance process.
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Please reach out to your coordinator to check if they are available to meet at an alternative time. To assist them in scheduling, kindly email your availability.
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No, you must complete the clearance process through your specific faculty mentor’s opportunity before generating a course contract. To re-enroll in future quarters, you must remain active and compliant.
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Our system uses UCLA IDs to verify clearance for generating research contracts. If you encounter error messages, possible causes include:
- System Update Timing: Your clearance may not yet be reflected due to scheduled system updates. Refer to the table below to determine when to attempt contract generation based on when you received your clearance email:
If you received the Clearance Email: Try to generate the SRP99-199 contract: Before 6:40am After 7am Before 12:40pm After 1pm Before 4:40pm After 5pm After 4:40pm After 7am the following day - Faculty UCLA ID Missing or Incorrect: The faculty’s UCLA ID may not be properly registered with the Volunteer Office.
- Inactive or Non-Compliant Status: You may no longer be active or compliant with the specific faculty mentor in the Volunteer Database System.
- Incorrect Faculty Selection: You may be attempting to generate a contract under a different faculty member within the same lab. Contracts must be created with the faculty listed in the opportunity link.
If you experience issues, please contact the Volunteer Office for troubleshooting and support.
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For more information, visit the UCLA Undergraduate Research Center website:
- SRP-99: https://sciences.ugresearch.ucla.edu/courses/srp/
- Upper Division 196-199: https://sciences.ugresearch.ucla.edu/courses/upper-division-tutorials/
Note: You must be cleared and actively placed with the faculty mentor you intend to enroll with.
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We recommend identifying labs early and requesting that they send you their opportunity link. Please also notify program coordinators of your intent to enroll so we can prioritize your clearance process.
Note: Standard onboarding requirements cannot be waived or expedited.
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You may encounter error messages due to the following:
- Your status is no longer active or compliant with the designated faculty mentor in the Volunteer Database System.
- You are cleared under a different program and not with the specific faculty mentor.
- Your UCLA ID is not properly linked to the designated faculty mentor in the system.
Please contact the Volunteer Office to check and troubleshoot possible issues.
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Please send the applicant a link to begin the online onboarding process (also referred to as the Opportunity link)
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Links are generated once an Opportunity is created in our database, based on the details provided in an approved Scope of Duties form.
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If you have a DocuSign account through your employee credentials, you can access signed documents by logging in at https://account.docusign.com.
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There are several reasons why a form may be delayed during the review process:
- High volume of submissions: We are currently experiencing a higher than usual volume and will review your form as soon as possible.
- Policy-related concerns: Some duties or roles listed may not align with established policies or guidelines. Please refer to the [Volunteer Guidelines].
- Additional approvals required: Certain duties or roles may need further authorization. See [Other Approvals Required].
- Pending signature: DocuSign may be awaiting a second signature, typically from the Principal Investigator (PI).
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Please contact our staff members for an update.
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Please make sure that your applicant also meets the eligibility criteria.
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An automated email will be sent to you from our program’s database system ([email protected]).
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Currently, Mednet requests must be submitted by the department’s designated IT Authorizer, typically an administrator or HR representative.
HIPAA training completions are verified by our office, so certificates are not required when submitting a Mednet account creation request to ISS.
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CareConnect View-Only Access Eligibility and Process
- Eligibility: Only UCLA students are eligible for CareConnect view-only access, and this must be explicitly approved within the Scope of Duties form.
- Submission: Access requests must be submitted by the department’s designated IT Authorizer, typically an administrator or HR representative.
- Approval Timeline: Compliance approval is required for access to be enabled, and this process may take additional time.
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Yes, the Scope of Duties form serves as official validation of the volunteer’s role under your supervision. If a volunteer performs tasks outside of what is outlined in the approved scope, the supervising individual may be held accountable.
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An automated email is sent at the beginning of each month, providing a comprehensive list of assignment details and volunteer statuses (both cleared and pending).
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Unfortunately, no. Students must complete the clearance process with their specific faculty mentor's opportunity prior to enrolling in the course and remain active and compliant in order to re-enroll in future quarters.
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Currently, our system uses UCLA IDs to verify clearances for enrollment in 99-199. Possible issues that may cause students to receive error messages when enrolling include:
- Faculty UCLA ID missing or incorrect with the Volunteer Office
- Student is not compliant or no longer active in the Volunteer Database System
- Student enrolled under a different faculty in the same lab (students must enroll with the faculty listed in opportunity)
Please contact the Volunteer Office to check and reslove issues with enrolling cleared students.
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The verification process checks if the student is cleared with their respective faculty mentor's opportunity and our systems uses UCLA IDs to verify. If you are a new SRP mentor, please notify the Volunteer Office to make sure your UCLA ID is on file, we will update the information for current and incoming cleared students.
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We recommend identifying students and sending them the opportunity link as early as possible and to notify the program coordinators of their upcoming interest in enrolling. Our staff will try our best to prioritize the student's the clearance process. Unfortunately, we are not able to bypass or waive any standard requirements to expedite the process.
For any additional questions NOT listed in our FAQs, please contact the UCLA Health Sciences Volunteer Office.