Students are strongly encouraged to attend all scheduled hours of instruction. Mandatory sessions and participation requirements in basic science and clinical science courses are determined by the course or clerkship directors. Recognizing that situations arise which require students to miss time from their course/clinical responsibilities, the procedures presented below must be followed when absence is necessary.
Holidays and Religious Observances
Holidays
- · The academic calendar in the preclinical years will mirror the University calendar in terms of days off for holidays.
- · Students in the clinical years are expected to report to their scheduled clinical duties during secular holidays unless otherwise specified by the clerkship director.
Religious Observances
All students, faculty and staff at the University of South Florida have a right to expect that the University will reasonably accommodate their religious observances, practices, and beliefs. Students are expected to attend classes and take examinations as determined by the University. The University will attempt, at the beginning of each academic term, to provide written notice of the class schedule and formal examination periods. The University, through its faculty, will make every attempt to schedule required classes and examinations in view of customarily observed religious holidays of those religious groups or communities comprising the University’s constituency.
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Pre-Clerkship Courses - Year 1 and Year 2
Mandatory Course-Specific Events
Each course in Year 1 and Year 2 may have course-specific mandatory events, such as laboratories, small group sessions, etc. These are identified in the syllabus distributed at the beginning of each course, and students are required to attend these mandatory events.
Planned Absence
In general, in order to be excused from a mandatory event, the same procedure for examinations is followed. The student must first contact the course director and the MCOM Office of Student Affairs. Absence requests must be submitted for approval to the course director at least 6 2 weeks prior to the event utilizing the online Absence Report Form. The course director will make the determination to grant or deny the request in addition to any required remediation. Students should communicate with the course director prior to committing to any planned event in order to determine if they will be excused.
Unplanned Absence
Emergencies for Personal Illness, Family Illness, etc.
The student must contact both the course director by e-mail or telephone (see specific course syllabus) and the MCOM Office of Student Affairs by e-mail or telephone (or 813-974-2068) to report the absence on the first day of being absent. The student should indicate the nature of the emergency or unexpected illness. The student must also complete and submit the Absence Report form. Specifics regarding planned and unplanned absences, as well as unexcused absences, are listed below.
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An unanticipated absence on the day of a mandatory event requires notification of the course director and the MD MCOM Office of Student Affairs. Upon returning to campus, the Absence Report form must be completed and given to the course director. The course director will make the determination to excuse the absence or not and will arrange with the student any required remediation.
Students who miss course-specific mandatory events are expected to acquire the same level of competency as other students involved in the course. Therefore, students with an excused or unexcused absence may be assigned work to complete by the course director, in order to remediate the missed event. In the case of an unexcused absence, the course director may assign a “0” or no credit for the missed work and/or require other remediation at his/her discretion. Multiple absences, or a prolonged absence, could result in failure of the course or a grade of “Incomplete”, at the discretion of the course director. All occurrences of unexcused course-specific mandatory events and their outcome(s), will be reported to the MCOM Office of Student Affairs by the course director.
Exam Attendance Procedures for Year 1 and Year 2
Attendance at all examinations is mandatory, and all students must take the examinations on the day and time scheduled.
Exam: Planned Absence
Absence for attendance of a professional meeting or other educational or research related activity must be submitted for approval to the course director at least 2 weeks (preferably 6 weeks) prior to the event. Each request for absence will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Personal travel plans will not be considered a valid excuse for missing an exam.
To receive an excused planned absence, the student must submit a completed Exam Absence Request form to the course director. A copy of the written request must also be submitted to the MCOM Office of Student Affairs as soon as possible prior to the scheduled exam. The course director or designee will make the final determination to grant or deny the request and will inform the student and the MD MCOM Office of Student Affairs of the decision.
Exam: Unplanned Absence
If the student has an unplanned absence on the day of an exam, he/she must contact the course director and the MCOM Office of Student Affairs (or 813-974-2068) by 8:30 a.m. on the day of the exam. When the student returns to school he/she must fill out and sign the Absence Report form.
Any exam absence due to illness requires a doctor ’s note .
Students who miss an examination for any reason are required to contact the course director prior to returning to class to determine the date and time of the make-up examination. Dates and times of make-up examinations are determined by the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education in consultation with course directors.
In general, make-up examinations for Year 1 and Year 2 courses must be taken within 48 hours of the original examination date.
Exam: Unexcused Absence
An initial unexcused absence will be reported to the course director and the student will be counseled regarding expectations for future exams. Depending on the circumstances of the unexcused absence, an impact on the student’s exam grade will be made by the course director. A second unexcused absence will result in an exam grade of “0” and action taken by the Academic Performance Review Committee (APRC) regarding professionalism.
Whether or not an absence is excused is at the discretion of the course director. The course director will use the following guidelines when determining if an absence is excused or unexcused. In certain circumstances, such as curricular events that are difficult to replicate, the course director may choose to not excuse a student, even if the guidelines below state that the absence is potentially excused.
Preclerkship Guidelines for Excused and Unexcused Absences
All ‘Events’ (see below) require submission of the appropriate Request Form. Events indicated below by an asterisk (*) are to be submitted at least 2 weeks in advance.
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All absence requests (excused and unexcused) are logged and tracked by the MCOM Office of Student Affairs.
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EVENT | Mandatory Classes | (where | attendance is required) | Absence | Excused? (Yes / No) | Course Exams | (attendance | is required) | Absence | Excused? (Yes / No) | ||
Student health issues, illnesses, | Yes Make-up assignment coordinated with course | Course Make-up test scheduled 2 days after OSCE or NBME Final Exams – Yes Make-up | ||||||||||
Death | Yes Make-up assignment coordinated with course | Course Make-up OSCE or NBME Final Exams – Yes Make-up arrangements coordinated | ||||||||||
| *Birth | Yes Make-up | Course Make-up arrangements coordinated OSCE or NBME Final Exams – Yes Make-up | ||||||||||
*Religious holidays | Yes Make-up assignment coordinated with course | Course Make-up OSCE or NBME Final Exams – Yes Make-up arrangements coordinated | ||||||||||
*Wedding, | Yes MakeYes Make-up assignment coordinated with course | Course Make-up OSCE or NBME Final Exams – No | ||||||||||
| *Presenting
| Yes Make-up | Course Make-up arrangements 2 days after OSCE or NBME Final Exams - No | ||||||||||
| *Participation in a MCOM-sanctioned | Yes Yes Make-up | Course Make-up arrangements 2 days after OSCE or NBME Final Exams - No | ||||||||||
| Personal or family events including
| No, Absence may affect final grade. Make-up
| Course Tests (i.e. ExamSoft) - No OSCE or | ||||||||||
| Significant personal event otherwise | Yes Make-up | Course Tests (i.e. ExamSoft) - Yes Make-up arrangements coordinated
OSCE or NBME Final Exams – Yes |
Medical Student Hours in Year 1 and Year 2
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Clinical Clerkships – Guidelines for Excused and Unexcused Absences
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EVENT | ABSENCE EXCUSED? | MAKE UP TIME NEEDED? |
Student | Yes | Yes, if > 1 day missed. Student responsible |
| Illness | Yes | Yes, if |
| Birthdays, Trips, Reunions, and other personal | No, absence will impact final grade! | Yes, for all days missed. Student responsible to reschedule all missed experiences. |
Religious holidays | Yes, if | Reasonable |
| Presentation at a medical conference | Yes, if | Attempts |
Attending a medical conference | Yes, if | Student |
| Wedding | Yes, if notification is made 2 months prior to clerkship | Student may only miss one day per clerkship before vacation time must be used to make-up absences. Yes, if > 1 |
| Attending the wedding of an immediate family member | Yes, if | Student |
Significant personal event otherwise unspecified that is cleared with Doctoring 3 Director, clerkship | Yes, if | Student |
Students are expected to attend all scheduled clerkship didactic conferences, lectures, workshops, and daily patient rounds. Mandatory sessions and participation requirements in the clinical years are determined by the individual clerkships. Recognizing that situations arise such that students miss time from their lectures/clinical responsibilities, the procedures presented below will be followed when an unplanned absence is necessary.
Unexcused Absence Report: Emergencies for Personal Illness, Family Illness, etc.:
The student should contact the direct supervising preceptor and resident/intern/rotation or section head and the clerkship director and clerkship coordinator in charge to report his/her absence on the first day of being absent. He/she should indicate the nature of the unexpected illness or emergency. The MCOM Office of Student Affairs must be notified of all absences by telephone (813-974-2068) or via e-mail (kzwygart@healthkkz@usf.usf.edu), or on the USF-Lehigh Valley campus, Dr. Melissa Brannen (Melissa_L.Brannen@lvhn.org). It will be at the discretion of the clerkship director, following consultation with the student, to excuse the absence or request additional information about the absence. This may include requesting a physician’s note or an explanation of the absence in detail.
The Absence Report form must be completed by the student and forwarded to the MCOM Office of Student Affairs and copied to the clerkship director and clerkship coordinator.
Excused Absence Request:
In order to be excused from a mandatory clerkship event, the student must submit either an Absence Request Form or Exam Absence Request form Form to the clerkship director and send a copy of the request to the MCOM Office of Student Affairs and the clerkship coordinator. The forms are called Absence Request form and Exam Absence Request form. The clerkship director will make the determination to grant or deny a request in addition to any required remediation.
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Students are expected to make up all unexcused and excused (but required) clerkship time. Such remediation should be made up at the earliest time available and should not interfere with other ongoing curriculum.
Medical Student Duty Hours in Years 3 and 4
MCOM students are held to the same work hour guidelines as are residents, per ACGME guidelines: 1.
- Students are limited to a maximum of 80 duty hours per week including in-house call, averaged over four weeks.
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- Students must be given one day out of seven free from all clinical and educational responsibilities, averaged over four weeks.
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- Students cannot be scheduled for in-house call more than once every three nights, averaged over four weeks.
Students may not work more than 28 consecutive hours.
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- Students should be given at least ten hours for rest and personal activities between daily duty periods and after in-house call.
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- Students, residents, and faculty are not permitted to allow/require deviation from the above rules.
Violations should be reported to the clerkship director, the Assistant Dean for Clinical Curriculum, the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, or the Associate Dean for Student Affairs.