Technical Standards
Introduction
The College of Medicine strives to select students who possess intelligence, integrity, personal and emotional characteristics that are considered necessary to become an effective health professional.
Students admitted to the College of Medicine should have the intellectual and physical abilities to acquire the knowledge, behaviors, and skills taught in the program of study. The curriculum is designed to provide the general education necessary for the students selected for medicine. Students will learn the fundamental principles, develop critical judgment, apply principles and skills wisely in solving scientific and health related problems. Curricular goals and/or minimal graduation requirements have been developed to fulfill these objectives and to prepare graduates to pursue further education, if desired.
In addition to satisfactory academic performance in all coursework, students are expected to fulfill the non-academic essential functions of the curriculum in a reasonably independent manner. These functions are specified by the physical, cognitive, and behavioral standards (referred to collectively as technical standards) necessary for the completion of the program.
The College of Medicine will consider for admission and advancement any individual able to perform pursuant to the standards, which are used as guidelines. Reasonable accommodations will be provided to qualified individuals with a disability in accordance with applicable laws and policies, while maintaining the integrity of program standards. Requests for accommodations will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
College of Medicine Technical Standards
The College of Medicine's curriculum is designed to provide the general education necessary for the practice of medicine. It permits students to learn the fundamental principles of medicine, to acquire skills of critical thinking and clinical assessment based on education and experience, and to develop an ability to use principles and skills wisely in maintaining health and treating illness. Curricular goals and minimal graduation competencies have been developed to fulfill these objectives and prepare our graduates to pursue any pathway of graduate medical education.
Technical (Non-Academic) Standards
鈥� Observation: Students must be able to acquire a defined level of required information through demonstrations and experiments in basic sciences including but not limited to physiologic and pharmacologic demonstrations, microbiologic cultures and microscopic cultures and microscopic studies of microorganisms and tissues in normal and pathologic states. Students should be able to assess a patient and evaluate findings accurately. These skills require the use of vision, hearing, and touch or the functional equivalent. Students must also participate actively in all clinical exercises and demonstrate the ability to assess and comprehend the condition of all patients presented for examination, diagnosis, and treatment. In any case where the student鈥檚 ability to observe or acquire information through these sensory functions is compromised, the student must demonstrate alternative means or abilities to acquire and demonstrate the essential information presented.
鈥� Communication: Students should be able to communicate with patients and/or their caregivers for the purposes of eliciting information, detecting changes in affect, physical functioning, and establishing an effective physician-patient relationship. They should be able to communicate effectively and sensitively with patients, caregivers, and all members of the health care team in all manners of communication, including face-to-face, telephonic, and written. This skill requires students to possess English language proficiency and, if required, the proper use of assistive devices to facilitate language interpretation.
鈥� Motor: The student must be able to directly perform the basic elements of a physical examination of patients including palpation, auscultation, percussion and other diagnostic maneuvers. Students should be able to execute some motor movements required to provide general care to patients and provide or direct the provision of emergency treatment of patients. Such actions require some coordination of both gross and fine muscular movements, balance, and equilibrium.
鈥� Intellectual, conceptual, integrative, and quantitative abilities: Students should be able to assimilate detailed and complex information presented in both didactic and clinical coursework, and engage in problem-solving. Candidates are expected to possess the ability to measure, calculate, reason, analyze, synthesize, and transmit information. In addition, students should be able to comprehend three-dimensional relationships and to understand the spatial relationships of structures and to adapt to different learning environments and modalities.
鈥� Behavioral and social abilities: Students should possess the emotional health required for full utilization of their intellectual abilities, the exercise of good judgment, the prompt completion of all responsibility鈥檚 attendant to the diagnosis and care of patients, and the development of mature, sensitive, and effective relationships with patients, fellow students, faculty, and staff. Students should be able to tolerate physically taxing workloads and to function effectively under stress. They should be able to adapt to changing environments, to display flexibility, and to learn to function in the face of uncertainties inherent in the clinical problems of many patients. Compassion, integrity, concern for others, interpersonal skills, professionalism, interest, and motivation are all personal qualities that are expected during the education processes. They must be able to cooperate with others and work as an integral part of the health care team.
Students Who Require Accommodations
The Office of Student Affairs coordinates arrangements for students in need of accommodations.
Students who require accommodation(s) after they have matriculated into the college need to provide documentation and complete the formal process with the Office of Accessibility. Please note that accommodation requests require up to 30 days to process or put in place.