General Policies and Calendars

Defines attendance expectations for courses and clerkships, describes the criteria for permissible absences and outlines the process for requesting them. 

KEY CONCEPTS: Students may take up to one full day for every two weeks of clerkship time. Requests for absences should be submitted a minimum of three weeks in advance, except in cases of unexpected emergency. Students should be eligible for reasonable absences to attend to needed health care appointments.

UME.07.v.2 Attendance Requirements & Excused Absences

Defines the conditions under which students can be engaged in educational sensitive exams. 

KEY CONCEPTS: Clinical supervisors will only permit students to engage in educational sensitive exams under anesthesia after obtaining consent and will document this consent in the medical record.

Consent for Sensitive Exams under Anesthesia

Days off during Clerkships for Interviews - 2025

(LCME Element 8.8)

Defines UMMS’ expectations for clinical scheduling and time off. 

KEY CONCEPTS: Minimum 10 hours of rest between work periods; 24 hours consecutive on-call time limit; core clerkships provide one day off every seven days and at least two half-days of Independent Learning Time for every 4 weeks.

Duty Hours

(LCME Element 9.8)

Clarifies the requirement that grades be submitted and posted in a timely manner, serving to inform students of their performance. 

KEY CONCEPTS: Final grades must be posted to the student record no later than six weeks from the last date of the clerkship.

Grade Submission Deadline 

(LCME Element 3.5)

Defines mistreatment and provides information on reporting and investigating mistreatment allegations. 

KEY CONCEPTS: Allegations of student mistreatment should be reported using official reporting mechanisms, such as UReport, or the UMMS’ Mistreatment & Harassment Oversight Team. The policy also reinforces the University's non-retaliation policy.

Mistreatment of Medical Students

(LCME Elements 6.2, 8.6, 8.7)

Students must see an appropriate mix of patients to achieve the learning objectives for each clerkship. Students are expected to see a common set of conditions, procedures, and presenting symptoms at a prescribed level of responsibility. 

KEY CONCEPTS: Supervisors must be familiar with the required clinical experiences (RCEs), working with students to ensure they achieve and log them.

Required Clinical Experiences 

 (LCME Element 12.5)

Ensures UMMS maintains a clear separation between individuals who provide health services from those making decisions of academic assessment or promotion. 

KEY CONCEPTS: Individuals who supervise or assess medical students must not also be involved in providing those students health care services.

Separation of Academic Roles in Providing Healthcare

Defines the handling of incidents of exposure, the process for reporting and follow-up, and the financial responsibility should exposure occur. 

KEY CONCEPTS: Clerkship site orientations should cover procedures to follow in the event of exposure. In addition to site-specific protocols, students should report exposure via the Bloodborne Pathogens Exposure Procedure. During after hours, students should seek treatment at the nearest urgent care of emergency room and should contact Boynton Health Services as soon as possible for follow-up.

Student Exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens and TB

(LCME Elements 9.2, 9.3)

This policy helps keep both patients and students safe by making sure students are properly supervised. 

KEY CONCEPTS: Supervising physicians must hold a faculty appointment before beginning their supervisory roles; faculty supervisors must communicate learning objectives and assessment methods to non-faculty supervisors (APPs, Residents) and must supervise those individuals as well.

Student Supervision During Required Clinical Activities

This phase is comprised of a Fundamentals course to introduce each topic, 9 systems-base courses, a longitudinal Clinical Skills course, and a longitudinal MPact courses.

Curricular Threads, which are discipline or content area based, run through all the systems courses.

SERVE Foundations Phase 

Following the Foundations phase, the students move into the 14 month Clinical Immersion Phase. There is an initial dedicated period designed to support every student in passing USMLE Step 1 in the first attempt.  

The remainder of this phase includes all the required specialty clerkships with the exception of Emergency Medicine.  Students can also complete an LIC in this phase and satisfy the same requirements. At the end of this phase, all students will have completed these required clerkships.

Clinical Immersion Phase  -  This is one prototype schedule in the immersive block design.

Specialty-specific transition is the final part of the Serve Curriculum. It starts in March of the third year and ends with Graduation in May of the 4th year. It is unique in having the fewest number of requirements that are common to all students. In this phase, all students will complete Emergency Medicine, an Acting Internship in Critical Care and an Acting Internship Selective. Beyond that, this phase will be customized to the specific needs of the student and their planned specialty.

This phase will have a special design for the application period, the interview period, and the Match period. It will be designed for students to prepare an excellent application, have the necessary flexibility to interview at residency programs, and prepare for their transition into their eventual specialty following graduation. The design of this phase is currently underway. 

Specialty-Specific Transitions phase