Policies

Any accidents or other incidents involving students (e.g. slip and falls, bloodborne pathogen exposures or needle sticks) will be reported to the Office of Student Affairs of the College of Medicine and to UCF Student Health Services (if applicable). The purpose of this policy is to define the process, guidelines and procedures for student incidents such as slip and falls, exposure to infectious diseases and environmental hazards, bloodborne pathogens, and needle sticks.

Please click here for the complete policy: UCF COM Policy 12.8.1 – Infectious and Environmental Hazards Student Incident

 

To report an incident, please complete the Student Incident Report Form and submit it to medstudentaffairs@ucf.edu 

For additional Health Services, such as After-Hours Care and Remote Clinical Location Sites information click below.

Student Health Services

 

When a Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), or Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infected student comes to the attention of the University of Central Florida College of Medicine (UCF COM), confidentiality of the individual, as well as the individual’s welfare and that of the university community must be respected. Infectious diseases will be handled appropriately and reported according to State requirements.

As stated within the CDC Recommendations, Chronic HBV infection in itself should not preclude the practice or study of medicine, surgery, dentistry, or allied health professions. Standard Precautions should be adhered to rigorously in all health-care settings for the protection of both patient and provider (p.9)

Prior to matriculation, all incoming UCF COM students are required to provide proof of Hepatitis B vaccination and a current HBSAb titer. Students who are HBV positive may disclose their status at that time. There is no requirement to disclose any other bloodborne pathogen positivity, but the student may do so voluntarily.

At matriculation orientation, all students receive verbal and written protocols and procedures for care and treatment, should exposure occur. Should an exposure occur during the enrollment period at UCF COM, students should immediately report exposure to any potentially infectious material (blood, open wounds, etc.) to their clinical instructor or appropriate agency. If exposure results in contraction of disease or disability, the student will be allowed to continue in the program.

The UCF COM adheres to the most updated guidelines provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the management of healthcare professionals with infectious diseases.

For more information, visit https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/bbp/

 

Please click here for the complete policy: UCF COM Policy 12.8.2 – Infectious Disease Protocol for Medical Students

This policy relates to LCME Element 9.9 which states that: “medical education program has a single standard for the advancement and graduation of medical students across all locations.”

The purpose of this policy is to define fair and consistent criteria for advancement of medical students, including leave of absence.

 

Please click here for the complete policy: UCF COM Policy 9.9.4 – Leave of Absence

The UCF College of Medicine is committed to diversity and inclusion which are cornerstone values as we
work with our communities to promote cross-cultural understanding and address health care disparities.

As a part of the University of Central Florida, the College of Medicine values and supports diversity and
inclusion as a key driver of excellence in our organization. Diversity as a core value in the College of
Medicine encompasses inclusiveness, mutual respect, acceptance of multiple perspectives, and serves
as a catalyst for change to create an open, safe, positive, and nurturing environment. Our Mission
Statement declares that the various functions of the college are designed “to improve the health and
well-being of all” and concludes that these take place “in an environment enriched by diversity”. For
undergraduate, M.D. students and postgraduate trainees, the college has a particular interest in
attracting and retaining learners who reflect the Central Florida community. High priorities are (1)
Black/African-American, (2) Hispanic/Latino, and (3) gender. We will recruit learners from socially or
economically disadvantaged populations and from multiple geographic locations. Similarly, these valued
diversity categories pertain to staff, faculty, and administration recruitment and retention efforts.

Having a college community that includes members from these populations is key to improving learning
outcomes. This promotes the exchange of ideas from multiple perspectives, creates an environment for
students to develop skills to address the cross cultural health needs of our diverse society, and develops
healthcare providers who can meet the needs for our multicultural population in Florida, the nation, and
globally.

 

Please click here for the complete policy: UCF COM Policy 3.3.1 – Diversity and Inclusion

To specify anticipated and unanticipated absences during medical school.

Students are expected to attend all scheduled hours of clinical responsibilities and didactic instruction.
Mandatory session and clerkship participation requirements in modules and clerkships and remediation
due to absence are determined by the module/clerkship directors. The student will be held responsible
for any material covered during the excused absence, but will be permitted a reasonable amount of
time to complete any missed work. Recognizing that situations arise which require students to miss time
from their module/clerkship responsibilities, the procedures presented in this policy when absence is necessary.

 

The complete policy can be found here: UCF COM Policy 8.8.2 – Attendance Policy

The UCF College of Medicine has the core belief that all medical students, residents, faculty and staff have the right to learn and work in an environment of respect. This policy was developed to educate the UCF College of Medicine community about student mistreatment and outline the procedures for addressing medical student mistreatment if it does occur. It is the policy of the UCF College of Medicine that mistreatment of medical students will not be tolerated.

This policy and related procedures aim to protect medical students from mistreatment by any faculty (pre-clinical and clinical) or staff member associated with UCF College of Medicine, including clerkship directors, attending physicians, residents, and other medical students by:

• Educating all members of UCF College of Medicine about student mistreatment
• Prohibiting medical student mistreatment by anyone associated with UCF College of Medicine
• Encouraging the early identification of medical student mistreatment as a preventative
measure
• Identifying individuals to whom medical students can report mistreatment
• Requiring those who receive complaints regarding student mistreatment to report the complaint
to the appropriate administrator
• Providing a confidential system for reporting mistreatment
• Prohibiting retaliation against those who report mistreatment
• Assuring confidentiality to the fullest extent possible
• Assuring that all reports of mistreatment will be thoroughly and promptly addressed
• Providing an avenue for corrective action

Reports of mistreatment will preferably be addressed within an informal framework when appropriate, but formal procedures are available for use when necessary.

Other mistreatment behaviors such as sexual harassment, discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and veteran status are covered under this and other College and University policies. When a medical student is alleged to have engaged in medical student mistreatment, the case may be referred to the Honor Council (aka Student Professional Conduct Council) if it represents a violation of professionalism standards. Disputes over grades are handled by M.D. Program academic polices.

 

The complete policy can be found here: UCF COM Policy 3.6.1 – Student Mistreatment

This policy relates to LCME Element 9.9 which states that: “medical education program has a single standard for the advancement and graduation of medical students across all locations.”

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that there is a single standard for all advancement and graduation decisions.

Please click here for the complete policy: UCF COM Policy 9.9.1 – Standards for Promotion and Graduation

This policy relates to LCME Element 9.9 which states that: “fair and formal process for taking any action that may affect the status of a medical student, including timely notice of the impending action, disclosure of the evidence on which the action would be based, an opportunity for the medical student to respond, and an opportunity to appeal any adverse decision related to advancement, graduation, or dismissal.”

The purpose of this policy is to describe the composition, purpose, rules, guidelines, and processes under which  Student Evaluation and Promotion Committee (SEPC) carries out its functions; evaluation process; procedures for professional conduct, appeals process; dissemination of the procedures; and recusal of SEPC members.

 

Please click here for the complete policy: UCF COM Policy 9.9.2 Student Evaluation and Promotion Committee

This policy relates to LCME Element 9.9 which states that: “medical education program has a single standard for the advancement and graduation of medical students across all locations.”

The purpose of this policy is to define fair and consistent criteria for advancement of medical students, including grading policies and processes, and appeals process.

 

Please click here for the complete policy: UCF COM Policy 9.9.3 – Grading Policy

This policy relates to LCME element 9.8, which states: “A medical school has in place a system of fair and timely summative assessment of medical student achievement in each course and clerkship of the medical education program.”

Required Pre-clerkship modules:

One week after a module exam, the exam grade and the primary discipline performance will be released in Webcourses. If the exam is a final exam, the final module grade will also be released at this time, if all grade components have been completed and the final module grade has been finalized. This one-week period is intended for the dual purpose of giving module directors sufficient time to complete an exam re-calculation as well as allow for the completion of module and faculty evaluations prior to grade release.

At UCF COM, the module letter grades will be entered into PeopleSoft and approved by the module director within two weeks of the end of the module, unless extenuating circumstances prevent the grades to be completed within this timeframe.

 

Required Clerkships:

The clerkship letter grades are released within four weeks of the last day of the clerkship, unless extenuating circumstances prevent the grades to be completed within this timeframe.

 

Please click here for the complete policy: UCF COM Policy 9.8.1 – Grade Release Policy

This policy is to ensure that students have sufficient protected time to engage in independent learning including the conduct of their FIRE research project. This is of particular concern in the context of increasing use of “flipped classroom” events¹ in which students are directed to learn material in their own time prior to a scheduled classroom lesson. This policy This policy relates to LCME Element 6.3.

Faculty may schedule a maximum of 24 hours per week of in-class contact time per student. There is 16 hours per week of “Flex Time” intended for student independent work that also includes FIRE research and clinical preceptorships (Community of Practice) spaced throughout the year.

 

The complete policy can be found here: UCF COM Policy 6.3.1 – Required Activities and Out-of-Class Work Policy

To list the requirements for rotations for fourth year medical students as of the 2017-18 academic year
which relates to LCME element 6.5 which states: “the medical curriculum includes elective opportunities
that supplement required learning experiences and that permit medical students to gain exposure to
and deepen their understanding of medical specialties.”

Fourth year medical students must complete:

• One 4-week Acting Internship (AI).
• One 4-week Emergency Medicine Selective: can be Adult or Pediatric Emergency Medicine.  NOTE:  if the Emergency Medicine Selective is taken as an AI, this does NOT fulfill the requirement for an AI during the M4 year.
• At least 24 weeks of elective rotations. M4 students may mix various combinations of 2-week and 4-week rotations to reach the total of 24 weeks.
• Students may take a maximum of 3 four-week non-clinical care rotations in M4.
• Students must take at least 4 weeks of clinical care rotations after the holiday break so as to promote readiness for residency training.

Further clarifications:

• Up to 16 weeks may be done in one specialty area. o Up to 16 weeks may be taken as away rotations.
• Students may continue to schedule the following rotations at Orlando Health through COM:
  1. MICU or SICU
  2. Medicine AI
  3. General Surgery AI
  4. Colorectal Surgery AI
  5. Electives in Infectious Disease and Hematology/Oncology
  6. Electives in Autopsy or Surgical Pathology
  7. Urology
  8. OB-GYN AI
  9. GYN-Oncology AI and elective
  10. Pediatric/Adolescent GYN
• VSAS must be used for the scheduling of the following M4 AIs and/or electives at Orlando Health only:
  1. Emergency Medicine
  2. Any fourth year rotation in Ob/Gyn (including AIs and all electives) not included above
  3. Any fourth year rotation in Pediatrics (including AIs, PICU and all electives)
  4. Any surgical subspecialty aside from Colorectal Surgery-AI
  5. All other electives at OH not included above
• If VSAS is used to schedule one or more rotations at OH, none will count towards the total of up to 4 away electives.
• If VSAS is used to schedule an AI at OH, that AI can be used to fulfill the requirement for completion of one AI in the fourth year.

The complete policy can be found here: UCF COM Policy 6.5.1 – M-4 Rotation Requirements

This policy relates to LCME Element 8.8, which states: “The medical school faculty committee responsible for the medical curriculum and the program’s administration and leadership ensure the development and implementation of effective policies and procedures regarding the amount of time medical students spend in required activities, including the total number of hours medical students are required to spend in clinical and educational activities during clerkships.”

The University of Central Florida College of Medicine is informed by the duty hour guidelines set by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), ACGME 2011.

• Duty hours must be limited to 80 hours per week, averaged over a four-week period, inclusive of all in-house call activities.
• Adequate time for rest and personal activities will be provided and will consist of a 10-hour time period between all daily clinical duty periods and after in-house call.
• In-house call must occur no more frequently than every third night.
• Duty periods may be scheduled to a maximum of 24 hours of continuous duty in the hospital. It is essential for patient safety and student education that effective transitions in care occur. Therefore, students may be allowed to remain on-site in order to accomplish these tasks; however, this period of time must be no longer than an additional 4 hours, and students must not be assigned additional clinical responsibilities after 24 hours of continuous in-house duty.
• Students must be provided with one day (24 consecutive hours) in seven, free from all educational and clinical responsibilities, averaged over a four-week period.

 

The complete policy can be found here: UCF COM Policy 8.8.1 – Duty Hours

This policy relates to LCME Element 9.1, which states: “… residents, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and other non-faculty instructors in the medical education program who supervise or teach medical students are familiar with the learning objectives of the course or clerkship and are prepared for their roles in teaching and assessment.”

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that all residents (and non-faculty instructors) that are responsible for supervising and training UCF COM medical students are familiar with UCF COM program objectives and relevant clerkship/module objectives. All residents (and non-faculty instructors) will receive an orientation to the program objectives and objectives for the clerkship/module they are supervising and/or training UCF COM medical students. Additional pertinent Faculty Development sessions and/or online modules in clinical teaching will be identified and delivered at the request of clerkship/program leadership. Annually, an orientation will be provided once a year, to account for program changes and new instructors.

 

The complete policy can be found here: UCF COM Policy 9.1.1 – Resident Orientation to Clinical Teaching

This policy relates to LCME Element 9.3, which states: “A medical school ensures that medical students in clinical learning situations involving patient care are appropriately supervised at all times in order to ensure patient and student safety, that the level of responsibility delegated to the student is appropriate to his or her level of training, and that the activities supervised are within the scope of practice of the supervising health professional.”

The medical school is committed to the safety of patients and students throughout the 4-year College of Medicine curriculum. All supervising health care professionals must have faculty appointments in the College of Medicine; many resident physicians have appointments by the college as resident instructors, and the residency program director is responsible for ensuring residents act within their scope of practice if they do not have a resident instructor appointment. The level of direct and indirect supervision will be commensurate with the level of observation/participation responsibility assigned to the student. At all times, there will be timely access to, and site-of-care availability of the supervising health care professional. The supervising faculty will at all times be physically present within the hospital or other site of patient care.

 

Levels of supervision—adapted from the ACGME classification—are defined as follows:

1. Direct Supervision:  the supervising health care professional is physically present with the student and patient.
2. Indirect Supervision with direct supervision immediately available – the supervising health care professional is physically within the hospital or other site of patient care, and is immediately available to provide direct supervision.

 

Medical students cannot do any medical or surgical procedure without the direct supervision of the attending or supervising resident physician.

 

Please click here for the complete policy: UCF COM Policy 9.3.1 – Clinical Supervision of Medical Students

This policy relates to LCME Element 9.5, which states: “..that a narrative description of a medical student’s performance, including his or her non-cognitive achievement, is included as a component of the assessment in each required course and clerkship of the medical education program whenever teacher/student interaction permits this form of assessment.”

1. Each student will receive narrative assessments during the curriculum that when aggregated provide feedback on their knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors.
2. During the pre-clerkship curriculum students will receive narrative assessment of their:
   1. application of foundational knowledge in case-based learning small group lessons
   2. clinical skills, as observed during simulated medical interviews, physical examinations and from medical documentation
   3. team work skills, interpersonal communication and professionalism during laboratory and medical simulation sessions
   4. use of evidence, fluency of written communication and critical thinking during required research experiences
3. During each core clerkship students will receive narrative assessment of overall performance, considering competency in patient care, medical knowledge, professionalism, interpersonal and communication skills, systems-based learning and practice-based learning and improvement.

The M1/M2 and M3/M4 curriculum subcommittees determine that narrative assessments are distributed throughout modules and clerkships, determining when teacher-student interaction permits particular learning outcomes to be observed and adequately assessed by narratives.

Please click here for the complete policy: UCF COM Policy 9.5.1 – Narrative Assessment

This policy relates to LCME Element 9.7, which states: “The medical school’s curricular governance committee ensures that each medical student is assessed and provided with formal formative feedback early enough during each required course or clerkship to allow sufficient time for remediation. Formal feedback occurs at least at the midpoint of the course or clerkship.”

In all required modules and clerkships, each student must be assessed and provided with formative feedback that allows progress in learning to be monitored. Feedback must be provided early enough to allow sufficient time for remediation at the approximate midpoint of a module or clerkship.

 

Please click here for the complete policy: UCF COM Policy 9.7.1 – Formative Assessment and Feedback

This policy relates to LCME 10.9 which states: “Describe the process for medical student assignment to an instructional site or parallel curriculum in the following circumstances, as relevant.  In the description, include when, how, and by whom the final decision about assignment is made.  Note the ability of students to select or rank options.”

For student assignments to core clerkship sites (e.g., a hospital) for an individual clerkship.

 

Please click here for the complete policy: UCF COM Policy 10.9.1 – Student Assignment to Clinical Sites

This policy relates to LCME Element 11.5, which states: “ At a medical school, medical student educational records are confidential and available only to those members of the faculty and administration with a need to know, unless released by the student or as otherwise governed by laws concerning confidentiality.”

The M.D. registrar is the individual responsible for maintaining student records for medical students in accordance with AAMC guidelines (Section (III, Appendix 41)) and for authorizing individuals to examine or review student records.

 

Please click here for the complete policy: UCF COM Policy 11.5.1 – Confidentiality of Educational Student Records

 

To release information to a third party please fill out the FERPA Release Authorization Form and submit it to the College of Medicine’s Registrar Office at comregistrar@ucf.edu.

 

For more information on student records please visit the Registrar’s web page.

Registrar

This policy relates to LCME Element 11.6, which states: “A medical school has policies and procedures in place that permit a medical student to review and to challenge his or her educational records, including the Medical Student Performance Evaluation, if he or she considers the information contained therein to be inaccurate, misleading, or inappropriate.

The M.D. registrar manages and maintains the academic records of all medical students. The primary role of the M.D. registrar is to maintain the permanent records and documents pertinent to each matriculated student’s progress throughout medical school. The M.D. registrar is also responsible for maintaining the documents that preserve the institutional memory of the college pertaining to the student academic record.

Students have the right, under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), to inspect and review their educational records. Student records submitted to the university become the property of the university and cannot be returned to or copied for the student or released to a third party. Students may request to amend their records under the provisions outlined in the regulation. Challenges to medical student academic records will follow the appeal process included in the university’s Golden Rule adapted to the College of Medicine.

 

Please click here for the complete policy: UCF COM Policy 11.6.1 – Student Access to Educational Records

This policy relates to LCME Element 12.2, which states: “ A medical school has clear, reasonable, and fair policies for the refund of a medical student’s tuition, fees, and other allowable payments.”

A refund of fees will be processed under the conditions noted below. The student must submit a written appeal for a refund to the associate dean for students within six months of the close of the payment period to which the refund or other appeal action is applicable. Any debts owed to UCF will be deducted from the refund, up to the full amount.

 

Please click here for the complete policy: UCF COM Policy 12.2.1 – Tuition Refund