I am a nursing instructor and I go to clinical site to follow-up my students for clinical rotation.The school policy is not to give out telepone number to the students.Since the clinical hours start at 7:00 am, it is a big challenge for me and my students to communicate especially if students can't come to report because maybe they are sick or they are late with some valid reasons.Ex. accidents, flat tire.Our school policy is for the student to call the campus which opens at 8:00 am and to leave a message on the answering machine.At times there is no one to pick up the phone or get the message and call me at the clinical site of students's absence.Is it appropriate for the students to call each other and report the absence or tardiness to the instructor? I created a buddy system in which students share their telephone in case of emergency;we have a telephone tree.What else can you suggest?