Background

The profession of medicine requires the utmost commitment of time and energy to learning/education, patient care, and, when appropriate, other scholarly activities. Teaching, learning, and assessment in both clinical and nonclinical settings are dependent on the student's presence and active participation. Time spent away from educational experiences, in both clinical and nonclinical settings, may substantially decrease learning and impede effective assessment.

The development of this commitment begins during Phase 1 of the Gateway Curriculum which consists of 7 modules, 3 clinical immersions, an EXPLORE immersion for non MSTP students, and an end of phase capstone. 

This document outlines the attendance policies and expectations for Phase 1 of the Gateway Curriculum while also recognizing that students may have legitimate reasons for absences. In keeping with Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) standard 12.4, all students requiring access to necessary diagnostic, preventive, and therapeutic care for both acute and chronic health concerns are to be excused from required learning activities. Please refer to the Access to Healthcare Services Policy for details.

Policies

Students are expected to attend all required sessions within Phase 1 of the Gateway Curriculum as specified within the learning management system (LMS) and expressed or directed by the Clinical Immersion leadership. In the rare circumstance that a student finds themselves unable to attend a required session or clinical experience due to illness or a personal emergency, the student must complete an Absence Notification Form (ANF) in the LMS that will be sent to faculty leads, with a copy sent to the Office of Medical Student Education (OMSE), Office of Medical Student Affairs (OMSA), and other individuals as appropriate. This form must be completed prior to the session that the student must miss or as soon as possible after the session as allowed by the illness or emergency.

In addition to completing an ANF, students unable to attend a team activity should also notify their team members with as much advance notice as can reasonably be expected under the circumstances. This obligation also applies to correspondence with clinical teams for absences that occur during the clinical portion of the phase. If the unavoidable absence occurs during any scheduled competency-contributing assessment, the student must also complete the Request to Change an Assessment/Assignment/Exam form.

Students will remain accountable for meeting all course requirements. Any absences that compromise a student's ability to meet these requirements and/or other Phase 1 requirements may result in the need for additional time to sufficiently meet the learning and assessment goals. Students will work with the faculty leads to develop a remediation plan for the missed session(s). All required assignments associated with a missed session must be completed and faculty directors may require additional makeup work. Within the clinical portions of Phase 1, owing to the experiential learning that can only occur when present in the clinical space, absences that compromise a student’s ability to meet clerkship requirements are defined as the following:

• Missing ≥25% of an individual learning experience (as defined by the immersion leadership) and/or
• Impacting the ability for clinical assessors to provide credible performance information

In addition to personal emergencies, it is recognized that a student may, on a rare occasion, desire to be absent for significant professional or significant personal events, including religious holidays (PDF). For the rare circumstances in which these anticipated absences exist, students are expected to contact leadership in OMSE and OMSA in advance of the event to discuss options that may minimize the impact on educational experiences. Note: Travel prior to or following observed university holidays and breaks that occur outside of the officially designated times/dates on the MD Program Academic Calendar as well as extracurricular and/or research events or experiences do not constitute a significant personal or professional event or unavoidable absence.

Attendance data will be tracked longitudinally by OMSE, OMSA, and other individuals as appropriate within the LMS for all phases of the curriculum. An absence will be recorded even when makeup work for a missed session is completed. Data will be monitored by the Assistant Dean for Assessment in collaboration with OMSE and will be reviewed by the Competency Attainment Committee (CAC) as evidence contributing to the attainment of competency in PROF-2: Exhibit high standards of professional integrity.

Guidelines

Failure to adhere to the above policy requirements (e.g., failure to file an ANF and/or appropriately notify leadership and clinical team members) may result in the submission of a Professional Behavior Form.

A trend of absences may result in the need for informal or formal remediation and/or comment in the Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE) in accordance with PROF-2.

For questions related to when one should be absent for medical reasons versus attend with increased personal protection equipment, please refer to the FAQ document in Student Commons. 

Last approved on August 5, 2024

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