Clerkship Completion Rules in Year 3

Appendix 7

We have seven courses, CBE, and 2 Selectives which comprise the year 3 curriculum. Neurology is silently integrated within IM.

1. Any student who has failed their first attempt at the USMLE-1 examination may not enter the 3rd year clinical rotations without first demonstrating a passing USMLE-1 score.
2. Students who have elected to take a “gap” year away from medical school may be required to take and pass a comprehensive OSCE exam and complete course-specific modules and readings for the pending rotations, as assigned by the Director of Clinical Education.
3. Three-week delayed entry into the clinical semester eliminates the possibility of receiving a grade of “Honors” in courses affected by the delay (IM, Peds, Surgery, FM, Psych, OB).
4. Students who attain a score below the 6th% nationally on their shelf exam will perform a mandatory individualized Selective, called an Advanced Clinical Elective (ACE). They will receive a grade of “IP” until the results of the second shelf exam are known.
5. Students who attain a score below the 6th% nationally on their shelf exam will not be eligible for honors, regardless of the outcome of their second shelf examination.
6. The “ACE” and hours of individualized training for students who attain a score below the 6th% nationally on the shelf exam will be assigned by the Associate Dean of Clinical Medical Education (ADCME) or Clerkship Director.
7. No student may enter the 4th year clinical electives with two failing core course grades.

Course Grading Decision:

1. Year 3 has two 3-week selective periods (at times 22-24 weeks) available only to students in good standing. A grade of Honors is possible during “Selectives.”
2. Students NOT in good standing (course evaluations identifying deficits, OSCE < 70%, or Shelf < 6th percentile) in any course will do ACE (advanced clinical elective) at week 22-24 in lieu of “Selectives.” No grade of Honors is available to a student performing an ACE.
3. Community-Based Education (CBE) is 2 weeks in total length, performed in either weeks 7or 14 of both 3rd-yr semesters. Passing in good standing is required. Failures will require an ACE.
4. Week 21 of the first block of the 3rd year will contain a multi-stage OSCE + Shelf Exams. The scores from these two endeavors plus the Faculty Evaluations compilation will determine the student’s final grade.
5. The end-of-year week-24 OSCE will contain a multi-station OSCE worth 30% of the course grades for Internal Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics, and OB/Gyn.  For Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine it is worth 3/8ths of the final grade. The Psychiatry station will represent the 30% “OSCE-portion” of the Psychiatry grade as well as retain its fractional proportion of the grade of the other 6 core courses.
6. Emergency Medicine and Family medicine have no associated Shelf Exam. Grading will be 5/8 evaluations, and 3/8 OSCE performance.
7. No grade of Honors will be allowed for any specific core course if the specific course shelf exams is below the 6th percentile. If any single shelf exam is failed (<6th %) in any subject in either semester, the student is not eligible for a grade of Honors in either Family Medicine or Emergency Medicine.
8. Grades will be released no later than four weeks after the end of week 21.
9. A passing grade on the shelf exam is >= 6th% for each of the subjects. Passing OSCE = 70%.
10. Grades greater than Pass require a minimum number of evaluations to be received by the clerkship team. The student may elect to remove the lowest scoring evaluations after attaining a threshold number of evaluations. This varies by course. When evaluations are removed, they become “formative,” rather than summative.