LCME Subcommittee 3

4.1
Sufficiency Of Faculty

A medical school has in place a sufficient cohort of faculty members with the qualifications and time required to deliver the medical curriculum and to meet the other needs and fulfill the other missions of the institution.

Comment on the current and anticipated adequacy of faculty numbers, specialty and discipline mix, qualifications, and availability to support the medical education program and the other missions of the medical school. (4.1)

4.2
Scholarly Productivity

The faculty of a medical school demonstrate a commitment to continuing scholarly productivity that is characteristic of an institution of higher learning.

Evaluate the level of scholarly productivity of the faculty in the context of the medical school’s research mission and goals.  (4.2)

4.3
Faculty Appointment Policies

A medical school has clear policies and procedures in place for faculty appointment, renewal of appointment, promotion, granting of tenure, remediation, and dismissal that involve the faculty, the appropriate department heads, and the dean, and provides each faculty member with written information about his or her term of appointment, responsibilities, lines of communication, privileges and benefits, performance evaluation and remediation, terms of dismissal, and, if relevant, the policy on practice earnings.

Are the policies and procedures for faulty appointment, promotion, granting of tenure (if applicable), and dismissal clear, understood by the faculty, and followed?  Do all faculty get regular and sufficient information related to their responsibilities, benefits, and remuneration? (4.3)

4.4
Feedback To Faculty

A medical school faculty member receives regularly scheduled and timely feedback from departmental and/or other programmatic or institutional leaders on his or her academic performance and progress toward promotion and, when applicable, tenure.

Comment on the adequacy of the policies and procedures related to provision of feedback to faculty about their academic performance and progress toward promotion and tenure (if relevant).  Is the requirement to provide feedback to faculty codified in institutional policy and is the policy followed? (4.4)

4.5
Faculty Professional Development

A medical school and/or its sponsoring institution provides opportunities for professional development to each faculty member in the areas of discipline content, curricular design, program evaluation, student assessment methods, instructional methodology, and or research to enhance his or her skills and leadership abilities in these areas.

Evaluate the adequacy of opportunities for professional development to enhance the teaching, assessment, evaluation, and research skills of the faculty and their knowledge of their disciplines.  Is faculty development accessible/available to faculty at all sites and is faculty participation supported by the institution? (4.5)

4.6

Responsibility for Educational Program Policies

At a medical school, the dean and a committee of the faculty determine the governance and policymaking processes of the program.

Comment on whether the dean and a committee of the faculty are responsible for determining institutional governance and policymaking processes. (4.6)

9.1
Preparation Of Resident And Non-Faculty Instructors

In a medical school, 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 medical school provides resources to enhance residents’ and non-faculty instructors’ teaching and assessment skills, and provides central monitoring of their participation in those opportunities.

Evaluate the adequacy of the methods used to ensure that residents and other non-faculty instructors receive and review the objectives of the courses and clerkships in which they will participate and are prepared for their specific teaching and assessment roles.  Is there an effective system to centrally monitor the participation of residents and other non-faculty instructors in such preparation sessions? (9.1)

9.2
Faculty Appointments

A medical school ensures that supervision of medical student learning experiences is provided throughout required clerkships by members of the school’s faculty.

Is there an effective system in place to ensure that medical student learning experiences in clinical clerkships are provided by faculty members and that there is appropriate supervision when medical students are engaged in patient care activities? (9.2, 9.3)

9.3
Clinical Supervision Of Medical Students

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.

Is there an effective system in place to ensure that medical student learning experiences in clinical clerkships are provided by faculty members and that there is appropriate supervision when medical students are engaged in patient care activities? (9.2, 9.3)

9.4
Assessment System

A medical school ensures that, throughout its medical education program, there is a centralized system in place that employs a variety of measures (including direct observation) for the assessment of student achievement, including students’ acquisition of the knowledge, core clinical skills (e.g., medical history-taking, physical examination), behaviors, and attitudes specified in medical education program objectives, and that ensures that all medical students achieve the same medical education program objectives.

Evaluate the adequacy of the methods used to assess student attainment of the knowledge, cognitive and clinical skills, attitudes, and behaviors specified in the educational program objectives.  Is there evidence that students’ core clinical skills are being observed?  Are there any limitations in the school’s ability to ensure that the clinical skills of all students are being appropriately assessed? (9.4 plus Overview section)

9.5
Narrative Assessment

A medical school ensures 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.

How effective are the processes and systems to ensure that students receive comprehensive and timely formative assessment and fair and timely summative in both the preclerkship phase of the curriculum and in the clerkships?  Is narrative assessment included as a component of courses and clerkships where teacher-student interaction permits? (9.5, 9.7, 9.8 plus Overview section)

9.6
Setting Standards Of Achievement

A medical school ensures that faculty members with appropriate knowledge and expertise set standards of achievement in each required learning experience in the medical education program.

Are standards of achievement for courses and clerkships and for the curriculum as a whole developed and set by faculty with appropriate knowledge and expertise? (9.6)

9.7
Formative Assessment And Feedback

A medical school ensures that each medical student is assessed and provided with formal formative feedback early enough during each required course or clerkship four or more weeks in length to allow sufficient time for remediation. Formal feedback occurs at the midpoint of the course or clerkship. A course or clerkship less than four weeks in length provides alternate means by which a medical student can measure his or her progress in learning.

How effective are the processes and systems to ensure that students receive comprehensive and timely formative assessment and fair and timely summative in both the preclerkship phase of the curriculum and in the clerkships?  Is narrative assessment included as a component of courses and clerkships where teacher-student interaction permits? (9.5, 9.7, 9.8 plus Overview section)

9.8
Fair And Timely Summative Assessment

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. Final grades are available within six weeks of the end of a course or clerkship.

How effective are the processes and systems to ensure that students receive comprehensive and timely formative assessment and fair and timely summative in both the preclerkship phase of the curriculum and in the clerkships?  Is narrative assessment included as a component of courses and clerkships where teacher-student interaction permits? (9.5, 9.7, 9.8 plus Overview section)

9.9
Student Advancement and Appeal Process

A medical school ensures that the medical education program has a single standard for the advancement and graduation of medical students across all locations and a 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.

Comment on the adequacy of policies and processes to ensure that a single standard for promotion and graduation is applied across all instructional sites.  Evaluate the fairness of due process protections in the case of an adverse academic action against a student. (9.9)