COM – Clinical Supervision

Policy Number: 3349-AC-408
Effective Date: 07/01/2018
Updated: 05/01/2020
Reviewed: —
Responsible Department: College of Medicine, Office of the Dean and Medical Education
Approval Authority: Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Responsible Office: Office of the Dean and Medical Education

A. Purpose

The purpose of this Policy is to ensure that medical students are appropriately supervised in learning situations that involve patient care, in accordance with the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). The following LCME element pertains to this policy (LCME Functions and Structure of a Medical School, effective July 1, 2019):

• Element 9.3, Clinical Supervision of Medical Students

B. Scope

This Policy applies to all credit bearing clerkships and electives contained in the College of Medicine curriculum that involve patient care, M3 through M4 years. It does not apply to any pre-matriculation courses or offerings, co-curricular activities at any level or student independent study effort.

C. Definitions

1. Credit-bearing Course:  A course offered by the College of Medicine in which a student is enrolled, the course appears on the student’s official transcript with either contact hours or credit-bearing acknowledgement, and a grade is assigned.

D. Policy Statement

1. Monitoring adherence to this Policy for all academic years is the responsibility of the Curriculum Committee, with support from the Clinical Curriculum Subcommittee, and course directors that have clinical experiences as required components of their courses.
2. Students shall be informed of clinical supervision requirements via, individual course syllabi and course orientations, and the NEOMED Office of the General Counsel Policy Portal.
3. Faculty and Clerkship/Elective Site Directors shall be informed of clinical supervision requirements via course director handbooks and/or orientation guides and materials, and the NEOMED Office of the General Counsel Policy Portal.
4. Course directors are responsible, to the best of their ability, for determining that students in clinical learning activities are being trained in a situation that ensures both student and patient safety.
   1. Course directors are responsible for establishing course guidelines to ensure that the level of responsibility and tasks in the clinical environment delegated to a student are appropriate for the student’s level of training.
   2. Course directors are responsible, to the best of their ability, for assessing clinical learning sites so that students will be placed in a safe learning environment.
   3. Students in the clinical setting must be supervised by a health care professional, including physicians and non-physicians, who is acting within his/her scope of practice.
      1. Students who are entrusted to be in a clinical situation without direct supervision must be assured ready access to an appropriate in-house supervisor, i.e., an attending physician or resident.
         1. Off-site or telephone supervision is not acceptable.
      2. Clerkship site directors shall provide information on an annual comparability survey regarding the types of health care professionals who supervise students during the clerkship at that site.
      3. For M4 clinical rotations at electives sites located in the United States not affiliated with NEOMED and not available through the AAMC Visiting Student Application Service (VSAS®), elective site directors shall be required to sign and attest that their credentials are accurate and that they are practicing within the scope of their license or certificate (Attachment A).
      4. Students completing international clinical rotations are responsible for adhering to the University International Travel policy (3349-05-45).
   4. Once a student is placed in the clinical environment, it is the site director’s responsibility to ensure appropriate delegation of tasks and appropriate supervision of students.
      1. Site directors are informed of responsibilities and tasks that are appropriate for the student at each particular level of training via course orientation and curricular materials.
5. Students may report concerns regarding inappropriate supervision and/or inappropriate delegation of tasks in several ways including, but not limited to, the course director, the site director, College of Medicine deans, and using the end-of-course evaluation form.
   1. Once notified, the course director will be responsible for taking corrective action on behalf of the course.

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