Collaborative Student Assessment and Support Policy and Process

Purpose

The purpose of this policy and process is to enable faculty to identify and fully support students who are at risk of not successfully completing the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine (SOM) curriculum. Given the nature of classroom and clinical training, with multiple supervisors and relatively short amounts of time spent in certain areas, streamlined communication between faculty, students, and administration will better allow faculty to identify and support students who need additional support. The goal of identifying these students is to arrange subsequent educational and clinical experiences in such a way that will best enable the student to succeed (for example, placement at a clinical site closer to the SOM, choice of certain service within a given clerkship, placement with a certain small group faculty, etc.). To minimize bias, information shared will be restricted to faculty/staff who need that information to support student success.

Scope

Compliance with this policy extends to all members of the academic community.

Policy

Applies to students who:

  1. Do Not Meet Expectations or Meet Expectations with Recommendations for their final course grade in any Phase 1 course
  2. Do Not Meet Expectations or Meet Expectations with Recommendations in any summative assessment within a Phase 1 course
  3. Fail or marginally pass a Phase 2 clerkship, course, or rotation
  4. Fail or marginally pass a summative assessment within a Phase 2 clerkship, course, or rotation

The student will be required to:

  1. Contact the Course/Clerkship Director to set up a meeting. At this meeting, the student and Course/Clerkship Director, or his/her designee, will:a.) Discuss and review the student’s performance

    b.) Develop a remediation plan as appropriate

    c.) Develop a plan to support the student in achieving future success.

    d.) The faculty and/or student may involve the Office of Student Affairs, the Office of Medical Education, and/or the student’s advisor for assistance in developing these plans.

    e.) Identify which personnel or resources the student should access (e.g. Office of Student Support, tutors, etc.)

    f.) Complete and sign the Collaborative Student Assessment and Support Plan Form

  2. Contact the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs or his/her designee to discuss the course/clerkship and the plan for ensuring the student’s future success, with the goal of identifying possible resources and supports for the student
  3. Submit the completed and signed Collaborative Student Assessment and Support Plan Form to the Office of Medical Education
  4. Contact the Course/Clerkship Director of their current course/clerkship to discuss the plan developed, with the goal of providing appropriate support and guidance to the student. If it is less than 2 weeks before a new course/clerkship begins, the student should also contact the Course/Clerkship Director of the upcoming course

Course/Clerkship Directors who develop and/or receive information regarding student performance and remediation and success plans are required to maintain student confidentiality as appropriate. Only faculty or staff who need information to assist the student in remediation or support should be given
information. Only information relevant to the faculty/staff’s role for the specific student should be shared.

Once a Course/Clerkship Director receives a completed Collaborative Student Assessment and Support Plan Form, it is his/her responsibility to implement appropriate measure to assist the student. This may include requiring the student to notify the Director of the student’s subsequent course/clerkship about the Collaborative Student Assessment and Support Plan Form.

The Office of Student Affairs and the Office of Medical Education are available to help faculty and students with all elements of ensuring student success, including all components of this policy and process.

As medical students are adult learners and part of the medical profession, each should take responsibility for his/her own success. This includes self-assessment of personal strengths and areas for improvement, openness to and identification of areas for improvement, and timely and complete participation in this process. Absence of participation, such as not following any piece of this policy may be considered a professionalism violation on the part of the student.

Responsible Offices

Approval

This policy was approved by the Medical Education Committee on July 1, 2018.

Effective Date

July 1, 2018

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