Narrative Data and Tables

Section II.  EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM FOR THE M.D.  DEGREE
Part B: Narrative Data and Tables

ED-1. The medical school faculty must define the objectives of its educational program.

Educational objectives are statements of the items of knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes that students are expected to exhibit as evidence of their achievement. They are not statements of mission or broad institutional purpose, such as education, research, health care, or community service. Educational objectives state what students are expected to learn, not what is to be taught.

It is expected that the objectives of the educational program will be used by faculty members in designing their courses and clerkships and in developing plans for the evaluation of students. The Curriculum Committee, working in conjunction with the chief academic officer, should review the stated objectives of individual courses and clerkships, as well as methods of pedagogy and student evaluation, to assure congruence with institutional educational objectives.

ED-1-A. The objectives and their associated outcomes must address the extent to which students have progressed in developing the competencies that the profession and the public expect of a physician.

There are several wide recognized definitions of the characteristics appropriate for a competent physician, including the physician attributes described in the AAMC’s Medical School Objectives Project, the general competencies of physicians resulting from the collaborative efforts of the ACGME and ABMS, and the physician roles summarized in the CanMEDS 2000 report of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. To comply with this standard, a school should be able to demonstrate how its institutional learning objectives facilitate the development of such general attributes of physicians. A school may establish other objectives appropriate to its particular missions and context.

a. Complete the following table showing general competencies expected of graduates, educational program (institutional learning)) objectives related to each competency, and any outcome measure(s) indicating achievement of each listed objective. Add rows to the table as needed.

b. Indicate the year in which present educational program (institutional learning) objectives were originally adopted and the year in which they were most recently reviewed or revised.

See also information for standard ED-47 in this section of the database.                            

ED-2. The objectives for clinical education must include quantified criteria for the types of patients (real or simulated), the level of student responsibility, and the appropriate clinical settings needed for the objectives to be met.

Each course or clerkship that requires physical or simulated patient interactions should specify the numbers and kinds of patients that students must see in order to achieve the objectives of the learning experience. They should also specify the extent of student interaction with patients and the venue(s) in which the interactions will occur.  A corollary requirement of this standard is that courses and clerkships will monitor and verify, by appropriate means, the number and variety of patient encounters in which students participate, so that adjustments in the criteria can be made if necessary without sacrificing educational quality.

a. Describe how both individual departments and the curriculum committee determine the number and kinds of patients and the clinical settings needed to meet the objectives for clinical education.  Provide a list of all clerkships that employ quantified criteria for patient number and types or clinical settings needed to achieve clerkship objectives.  Give examples of the quantified criteria.

Among those who should exhibit familiarity with the overall objectives for the education of medical students are the dean and the academic leadership of clinical affiliates where the educational program takes place.

Describe how the general objectives of the educational program (institutional learning objectives) are made known t (a) medical students; (b) instructional staff, including full-time and volunteer (community) faculty, graduate students, and resident physicians with responsibility for teaching; and (3) academic leadership of the medical school and its affiliated institutions.

 ED-4. The program of medical education leading to the MD degree must include at least 130 weeks of instruction.

a. Supply a copy of the default “Course Schematic” report from the online AAMC Curriculum Directory, illustrating the structure of the educational program, for the most recent academic year completed.  The diagram should show the approximate sequencing of, and relationships among, required courses and clerkships in each academic period of the curriculum.

b. Supply a copy of the default “Required Courses and Clerkships” report from the online AAMC Curriculum Directory, for the most recent academic year completed.  The “Required Courses and Clerkships” report shows a list of required courses and clerkships, with educational methods, in each academic period of the curriculum.

c. If the school offers multiple educational program tracks, provide a separate description of any tracks not included in the AAMC Curriculum Directory. 

ED-6. The curriculum must incorporate the fundamental principles of medicine and its underlying scientific concepts; allow students to acquire skills of critical judgment based on evidence and experience; and develop students’ ability to use principles and skills wisely in solving problems of health and disease.

ED-7. It must include current concepts in the basic and clinical sciences, including therapy and technology, changes in the understanding of disease, and the effect of social needs and demands on care. 

Provide one or more examples of how students acquire the following skills and understanding:

a. Ability to learn through self-directed, independent study

b. Skills of critical judgment based on evidence

c. Skills of medical problem-solving

d. Understanding of societal needs and demands on health care

See also information for standard ED-28, and the Required Course and Required Clerkship Forms.

ED-8. There must be comparable educational experiences and equivalent methods of evaluation across all alternative instructional sites within a given discipline.

Compliance with this standard requires that educational experiences given at alternative sites be designed to achieve the same educational objectives.  Course duration or clerkship length should be identical, unless a compelling reason exists for varying the length of the experience.  The instruments and criteria used for student evaluation, as well as policies for the determination of grades, should be the same at all alternative sites.  The faculty who teach at various sites should be sufficiently knowledgeable in the subject matter to provide effective instruction, with a clear understanding of the objectives of the educational experience and the evaluation methods used to determine achievement of those objectives.  Opportunities to enhance teaching and evaluation skills should be available for faculty at all instructional sites.

While the types and frequency of problems or clinical conditions seen at alternate sites may vary, each course or clerkship must identify any core experiences needed to achieve its objectives, and assure that students received sufficient exposure to such experiences.  Likewise, the proportion of time spent in inpatient and ambulatory settings may vary according to local circumstance, but in such cases the course or clerkship director must assure that limitations in learning environments do not impede the accomplishment of objectives.

To facilitate comparability of educational experiences and equivalency of evaluation methods, the course or clerkship director should orient all participants, both teachers and learners, about the educational objectives and grading system used.  This can be accomplished through regularly scheduled meetings between the director of the course or clerkship and the directors of the various sites that are used.

The course/clerkship leadership should review student evaluations of their experiences at alternative sites to identify any persistent variations in educational experiences or evaluation methods.

For each course or clerkship offered at more than one site, describe the following:

a. How faculty members at all sites are oriented to the objectives and grading system for the course or clerkship.

b. How and how often individuals responsible for the course or clerkship at all sites communicate regarding planning, implementation, student evaluation, and course evaluation. 

c. Faculty development activities related to teaching and evaluation skills that are available to instructional staff across sites.

d.  Mechanisms for review and sharing of student assessments of their educational experiences and any other data reflecting the comparability of learning experiences across sites.

ED-9. The LCME must be notified of plans for major modification of the curriculum.

Notification should include the explicitly-defined goals of the change, the plans for implementation, and the methods that will be used evaluate the results.  Planning for curriculum change should consider the incremental resources that will be required, including physical facilities and space, faculty/resident effort, demands on library facilities and operations, information management needs, and computer hardware.

In view of the increasing pace of discovery of new knowledge and technology in medicine, the LCME encourages experimentation that will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of medical education.  

a. Indicate the number of formal teaching sessions (structured sessions, such as lectures, small-group discussions, lab activities) during the preclinical or clinical years where the topic is considered to be an important learning objective.  Check if the topic represents an element of required clerkships or patient-centered preclerkship courses that students are expected to encounter as part of their clinical experience, even though there may not be a formal teaching session on the topic.

b..  Describe steps being taken to improve content coverage in any areas where the school believes more exposure is needed.

 ED-11. It [the curriculum] must include the contemporary content of those disciplines that have been traditionally titled anatomy, biochemistry, genetics, physiology, microbiology and immunology, pathology, pharmacology and therapeutics, and preventive medicine.

Describe where in the curriculum students participate in required laboratory exercises (real or simulated) that oblige them to make observations of biomedical phenomena and collect or analyze data.

See also information for standard ED-5 and the Required Course Forms.

How does the school ensure that all the above aspects of clinical medicine are included as part of required clinical instruction?

See also information for standard ED-10 and the Required Clerkship Forms.

ED-14. Clinical experience in primary care must be included as part of the curriculum.

List each required course and clerkship that provides training in primary care, with the hours or weeks devoted to the topic in each of them.

 ED-15. The curriculum should include clinical experiences in family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry, and surgery.

Schools that do not require clinical experience in one or another of these disciplines must ensure that their students possess the knowledge and clinical abilities to enter any field of graduate medical education. 

If the educational program does not include a separate required clinical clerkship in any of the above disciplines, describe where in the curriculum students acquire the relevant knowledge and skills.

See also the Required Clerkship Forms.

ED-16. Students’ clinical experiences must utilize both outpatient and inpatient settings.

Refer to standard ER-6 in Section V: Educational Resources of the database, and to Required Clerkship Forms.

ED-17. Educational opportunities must be available in multidisciplinary content areas, such as emergency medicine and geriatrics, and in the disciplines that support general medical practice, such as diagnostic imaging and clinical pathology. 

Describe where in the curriculum the following subject areas are covered: 

a. Emergency Medicine

b. Geriatrics

c. Diagnostic Imaging/Radiology

d. Clinical Pathology

See also information for standard ED-10.

 ED-18. The curriculum must include elective courses to supplement required courses.

While electives permit students to gain exposure to and deepen their understanding of medical specialties reflecting their career interests, they should also provide opportunities for students to pursue individual academic interests. 

c. Provide the average number of weeks that students in the most recent graduating class spent taking electives at another institution.

ED-19. There must be specific instruction in communication skills as they relate to physician responsibilities, including communication with patients, families, colleagues, and other health professionals.

Describe where in the curriculum (specific course or clerkship) students gain experience in the following areas.  Include the settings in which instruction occurs (e.g., classroom, clinical) and the format(s) used (e.g., lecture, small group, standardized patient, role play, etc.).

a. Communicating with patients and patient families

b. Communicating with colleagues (e.g., as part of the medical team)

c. Communicating with other (non-physician) health professionals

See also information for standards ED-10 and ED-28.

ED-20. The curriculum must prepare students for their role in addressing the medical consequences of common societal problems, for example, providing instruction in the diagnosis, prevention, appropriate reporting, and treatment of violence and abuse.

a. Indicate where in the curriculum students learn about the medical consequences of common societal problems.

b. List the required courses and clerkships that cover the following aspects of domestic violence and abuse (see Glossary at the front of this section for definition).

See also information for standard ED-10.

ED-21. The faculty and students must demonstrate an understanding of the manner in which people of diverse cultures and belief systems perceive health and illness and respond to various symptoms, diseases, and treatments.

All instruction should stress the need for students to be concerned with the total medical needs of their patients and the effects that social and cultural circumstances have on their health.  To demonstrate compliance with this standard, schools should be able to document objectives relating to the development of skills in cultural competence, indicate where in the curriculum students are exposed to such material, and demonstrate the extent to which the objectives are being achieved. 

a. Indicate where in the curriculum students learn about issues relate to cultural competence.  Note whether the instruction occurs through formal teaching or as a result of exposure in the clinical setting.

b. Provide evidence that institutional and course or clerkship objectives addressing cultural competence are being met.  How is student attainment of the objectives being evaluated and what are the results?

See also information for standard ED-10.

ED-22. Medical students must learn to recognize and appropriately address gender and cultural biases in themselves and others, and in the process of health care delivery.

The objectives for clinical instruction should include student understanding of demographic influences on health care quality and effectiveness, such as racial and ethnic disparities in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. The objectives should also address the need for self-awareness among students regarding any personal biases in their approach to health care delivery.

a. Describe where in the curriculum (in formal teaching sessions or indirectly through clinical experiences) students receive instruction addressing the following:

 1. Demographic influences on health care quality and effectiveness (including racial or ethnic disparities in health care delivery).

2. Student self-awareness of their own biases.

b. Provide evidence that institutional or course- and clerkship-specific objectives related to gender and cultural biases on health care are being met.

ED-23. A medical school must teach medical ethics and human values, and require its students to exhibit scrupulous ethical principles in caring for patients, and in relating to patients’ families and to others involved in patient care.

Each school should assure that students receive instruction in appropriate medical ethics, human values, and communication skills before engaging in patient care activities.  As students take on increasingly more active roles in patient care during their progression through the curriculum, adherence to ethical principles should be observed and evaluated, and reinforced through formal instructional efforts.

In student-patient interactions there should be a means for identifying possible breaches of ethics in patient care, either through faculty/resident observation of the encounter, patient reporting, or some other appropriate method.

“Scrupulous ethical principles” imply characteristics like honesty, integrity, maintenance of confidentiality, and respect for patients, patients’ families, other students, and other health professionals.  The school’s educational objectives may identify additional dimensions of ethical behavior to be exhibited in patient care settings. 

a. Identify each course in the pre-clerkship curriculum where student understanding of ethical issues and human values is an explicit educational objective.

b. Provide samples of any evaluation instruments used to assess the acquisition or demonstration of ethical behavior in the preclinical or clinical curriculum.

c. Describe the methods used to identify any breaches of ethics in patient care made by medical students.  How are such breaches addressed?

See also information for standard ED-10.

ED-24. Residents who supervise or teach medical students, as well as graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the biomedical sciences who serve as teachers or teaching assistants, must be familiar with the educational objectives of the course or clerkship and be prepared for their roles in teaching and evaluation.

Describe any institution-level programs to enhance the teaching and evaluation skills of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, or residents.  If such programs are the same as those provided for faculty, indicate so and refer to the response for standards FA-4 and FA-11 in Section IV: Faculty.

See also the Required Course Forms and Required Clerkship Forms for course-specific and clerkship-specific programs.

ED-25. Supervision of student learning experiences must be provided throughout required clerkships by members of the medical school’s faculty. 

a. Summarize the mechanisms used to assure faculty supervision of student learning experiences in clerkships, including direct observation of performance, reviews of patient charts or logbooks of patient encounters, etc.

b. List any clerkships where students may be supervised by physicians who are not medical school faculty members (do not include residents/fellows).

 ED-26. The medical school faculty must establish a system for the evaluation of student achievement throughout medical school that employs a variety of measures of knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes.

Evaluation of student performance should measure not only retention of factual knowledge, but also development of the skills, behaviors, and attitudes needed in subsequent medical training and practice, and the ability to use data appropriately for solving problems commonly encountered in medical practice.

The LCME urges schools to develop a system of evaluation that fosters self-initiated learning by students and disapproves of the use of frequent tests which condition students to memorize details for short-term retention only.

a. Describe how the school ensures that the methods used to evaluate student performance are appropriate to achieve its institutional and course- or clerkship-specific objectives. Note any role played by the curriculum committee or other central curriculum management group.

b. Include a copy of any standard form(s) used by faculty members or resident physicians to evaluate students during required clinical clerkships.

See also Required Course Forms and Required Clerkship Forms.

ED-27. There must be ongoing assessment that assures students have acquired and can demonstrate on direct observation the core clinical skills, behaviors, and attitudes that have been specified in the school’s educational objectives.

a. Is there a core list of clinical skills/behaviors that students must master? (check)

b. If one or more comprehensive evaluations of clinical skills (e.g., OSCE or standardized patient evaluations) are given outside of individual courses or clerkships, describe the evaluation methods and when the evaluations are administered.

See also the Required Clerkship Forms

ED-28. There must be evaluation of problem solving, clinical reasoning, and communication skills. 

Provide a representative sample of the materials (written or oral exam questions, research paper assignments, problem-based learning cases, etc.) specifically designed to assess student skills in problem solving, clinical reasoning, and communication.  Indicate the courses or clerkships that employ such materials.

See also the Required Course and Clerkship Forms and the information for standards ED-6 and  ED-19.

ED-29. The faculty of each discipline should set the standards of achievement in that discipline.

Refer to the responses about student evaluation methods in the Required Course and Clerkship Forms.

ED-30. The directors of all courses and clerkships must design and implement a system of formative and summative evaluation of student achievement in each course and clerkship.

Those directly responsible for the evaluation of student performance should understand the uses and limitations of various test formats, the purposes and benefits of criterion-referenced vs. norm-referenced grading, reliability and validity issues, formative vs. summative assessment, etc. In addition, the chief academic officer, curriculum leaders, and faculty should understand, or have access to individuals who are knowledgeable about, methods for measuring student performance.  The school should provide opportunities for faculty members to develop their skills in such methods.

An important element of the system of evaluation should be to ensure the timeliness with which students are informed about their final performance in the course/clerkship. In general, final grades should be available within four to six weeks of the end of the course/clerkship. 

a. Describe the availability of individuals who can assist faculty in developing formative and summative evaluations of students (for example, experts in test development or educational measurement).

b. Describe how the school ensures that course and clerkship grades are available in a timely manner. 

See also information for standard ED-26, and the Required Course and Clerkship Forms.

ED-31. Each student should be evaluated early enough during a unit of study to allow time for remediation.

It is expected that courses and clerkships provide students with formal feedback during the experience so that they may understand and remediate their deficiencies.  Courses or clerkships that are short in duration (less than 4 weeks) may not have sufficient time to provide structured formative evaluation, but should provide alternate means (such as self-testing or teacher consultation) that will allow students to measure their progress in learning.

Describe how the school ensures that mid-course and mid-clerkship evaluations occur. Include the methods (such as review of test results, formal written comments, formal feedback sessions with clerkship directors) used to provide formative feedback in the preclinical and clinical years.

See also information for standard ED-26, and the Required Course and Clerkship forms.

Each course is formally presented to the Educational Policy Committee every 2-3 years. The structure for the presentation includes Evaluation and Assessment Methods and results. (See ED-26.) In addition, in preparation for the Self-Study, each course and clerkship director completed an exercise in which individual course and clerkship objectives were "mapped" to the institutional objectives, and the methods for formative assessment and summative assessment were cited for each objective. This "mapping" document is maintained in the office of the Associate Dean for Curriculum. An example of the mapping document for a preclerkship course and a clerkship are attached. (see Attachments: "ED-31.a. Mapping Objectives. Neuroscience" and "ED-31.b. Mapping Objectives. Ophthalmology")

The most common methods for formative feedback in the preclerkship years were quizzes, mid-term examinations with review, small group problem solving discussions, laboratory exercises, and preceptor feedback for clinical activities such as the Introduction to Clinical Medicine and Clinical Skills Courses.

Formative methods in the clinical years include a mid-clerkship interview with the clerkship director (Surgery Clerkship), standardized patient exercise (Medicine Clerkship), review of patient logs with preceptors (Ambulatory Medicine), global rating forms (available online), and face-to-face feedback from residents and faculty attendings.

Describe how the school ensures that mid-course and mid-clerkship evaluations occur.  Include the methods (such as review of test results, formal written comments, formal feedback sessions with clerkship directors) used to provide formative feedback in the preclinical and clinical years.

See also information for standard ED-26, and the Required Course and Clerkship forms.

ED-32. Narrative descriptions of student performance and of non-cognitive achievement should be included as part of evaluations in all required courses and clerkships where teacher-student interaction permits this form of assessment.

For the required pre-clinical courses in Years One and Two, some courses are primarily taught by lecture format only.  These particular courses may not be amenable to narrative assessment, as planned teacher-student interaction is not formally built into the course structure (though course instructors are readily available outside of class for student questions, concerns, and feedback).  Some pre-clinical courses do incorporate small group work that may permit narrative evaluation of students, although the time spent in these groups is limited.  As of 2004-2005, the following pre-clinical courses provide narrative student evaluations:

Year One:        Introduction to Clinical Medicine
                     Physician and Society (spans all 4 years)

Year Two:        Clinical Skills
                      Pathology                       

For the required clinical clerkships in Years Three and Four, students are primarily evaluated through the “E-value” web-based system.  The evaluations in this system contain a field for open-ended comments as below:

See information provided on the Required Course and Clerkship Forms.

ED-33. There must be integrated institutional responsibility for the overall design, management, and evaluation of a coherent and coordinated curriculum.

The phrase “integrated institutional responsibility” implies that an institutional body (commonly a curriculum committee) will oversee the educational program as a whole.  An effective central curriculum authority will exhibit:

  - Faculty, student, and administrative participation.

  - Expertise in curricular design, pedagogy, and evaluation methods.

  - Empowerment, through bylaws or decanal mandate, to work in the best interests of the institution without regard for parochial or political influences, or departmental pressures.

The phrase “coherent and coordinated curriculum” implies that the program as a whole will be designed to achieve the school’s overall educational objectives. Evidence of coherence and coordination includes:

  - Logical sequencing of the various segments of the curriculum.

  - Content that is coordinated and integrated within and across the academic periods of study (horizontal and vertical integration).

  - Methods of pedagogy and student evaluation that are appropriate for the achievement of the school’s educational objectives.

Curriculum management signifies leading, directing, coordinating, controlling, planning, evaluating, and reporting.  Evidence of effective curriculum management includes:

    - Evaluation of program effectiveness by outcomes analysis, using national norms of accomplishment as a frame of reference.

  - Monitoring of content and workload in each discipline, including the identification of omissions and unwanted redundancies.

  - Review of the stated objectives of individual courses and clerkships, as well as methods of pedagogy and student evaluation, to assure congruence with institutional educational objectives.

Minutes of the curriculum committee meetings and reports to the faculty governance and deans should document that such activities take place and should show the committee’s findings and recommendations.

See FA-11.

a. Provide an organizational chart for management of the curriculum that includes the curriculum committee and its subcommittees, other relevant committees, the chief academic officer, and other individuals or groups involved in curriculum design, implementation, and evaluation.

b. Supply the title of the faculty committee with responsibility for the curriculum:

c. Provide the charge or terms of reference for this committee, and the source of its authority (bylaws, mandate from the dean or faculty executive committee, etc.).

d. Describe the composition of this committee and mechanisms for selecting its members and chair.

e. Indicate the frequency of regularly scheduled meetings during a typical academic year: (check)

f. If there are standing subcommittees, describe their charge or role, membership, and reporting relationship to the parent committee.

g. Describe the roles of the curriculum committee and any subcommittees, chief academic officer or associate dean for educational programs, and departments in each of the following:

• Developing and reviewing the institutional objectives for the educational program

• Ensuring use of appropriate teaching methods or instructional formats

• Ensuring that content is coordinated and integrated within and across academic periods of study

• Ensuring use of appropriate methods to evaluate student performance

• Monitoring the quality of teaching   

ED-34. The program’s faculty must be responsible for the detailed design and implementation of the components of the curriculum.

Such responsibilities include, at a minimum, the development of specific course or clerkship objectives, selection of pedagogical and evaluation methods appropriate for the achievement of those objectives, ongoing review and updating of content, and assessment of course and teacher quality.

a. Provide examples of the types of changes that can be handled at the level of the course or clerkship and the types of changes that require curriculum committee or other central approval. 

b. Describe the role, if any, of the curriculum committee in the development and review of course- and clerkship-specific objectives, as well as methods of instruction and student performance assessment.

c. Describe the kinds of outcome measures routinely available to course and clerkship leaders for evaluating the quality of instruction, e.g., course evaluation forms, USMLE performance data, results from the AAMC Graduation Questionnaire, etc.

See also the Required Course and Clerkship Forms, and information for standards ED-33and ED-46/47.

ED-35. The objectives, content, and pedagogy of each segment of the curriculum, as well as for the curriculum as a whole, must be subject to periodic review and revision by the faculty.

The curriculum committee, working in conjunction with the chief academic officer, should assure that each academic period of the curriculum maintains common standards for content.  Such standards should address the depth and breadth of knowledge required for a general professional education, currency and relevance of content, and the extent of redundancy needed to reinforce learning of complex topics.  The final year should complement and supplement the curriculum so that each student will acquire appropriate competence in general medical care regardless of subsequent career specialty.

a. Describe the process of formal review for each of the listed curriculum elements.  Include in the description how often such reviews are conducted, how they are conducted, and under what auspices (e.g., the department, the curriculum committee) they are undertaken.

• Required courses

• Required clerkships

• Individual years or academic periods of the curriculum

• The entire curriculum

b. Provide a copy of any standardized institutional course or clerkship evaluation forms.

ED-36. The chief academic officer must have sufficient resources and authority to fulfill the responsibility for the management and evaluation of the curriculum.

The dean often serves as the chief academic officer, with ultimate individual responsibility for the design and management of the educational program as a whole.  He or she may, however, delegate operational responsibility for curriculum oversight to a vice dean or associate dean.

The kinds of resources needed by the chief academic officer to assure effective delivery of the educational program include:

 - Adequate numbers of teachers who have the time and training necessary to achieve the program’s objectives.

  - Appropriate teaching space for the methods of pedagogy employed in the educational program.

  - Appropriate educational infrastructure (computers, audiovisual aids, laboratories, etc.).

  - Educational support services, such as examination grading, classroom scheduling, and faculty training in methods of teaching and evaluation.

  - Support and services for the efforts of the curriculum management body and for any interdisciplinary teaching efforts that are not supported at a departmental level.

The chief academic officer must have explicit authority to ensure the implementation and management of the educational program, and to facilitate change when modifications to the curriculum are determined to be necessary.

a. Provide the name and title of the chief academic officer responsible for the medical education program. If the dean functions as the chief academic officer but has delegated responsibility for medical student education to an associate dean or other individual, provide the name and title of the latter.

b. Provide a position description for the individual responsible for the medical education program leading to the M.D. degree, if not the dean.

See also information for standard ED-33.

ED-37. The faculty committee responsible for the curriculum must monitor the content provided in each discipline so that the school’s educational objectives will be achieved.

Describe how the curriculum committee monitors the content of required courses and clerkships, and how gaps and unwanted redundancies are identified.

See also information for standard ED-33.

ED-38. The committee [responsible for the curriculum] should give careful attention to the impact on students of the amount of work required, including the frequency of examinations and their scheduling.

In addition to monitoring the amount of classroom time and examination frequency, attention should be paid to the hours that medical students work during the clinical years and the educational value of their clinical activities.  Student duty hours should be set taking into account the effects of fatigue and sleep deprivation on learning and patient care.  In general, medical students should not be required to work longer hours than residents.

a. Provide the average number of unscheduled hours per week during each of the first two years of the curriculum, and the number of for-credit examinations in each year.

b.  Describe the process, including the roles of relevant committees and the central medical school administration, for coordinating major examinations during the first two years.

c. Describe how the curriculum committee or the relevant subcommittee(s), as well as course and clerkship leaders, monitor the workload of students within and across individual courses and clerkships.  Summarize any school policies on medical student work hours.

See also information for standard ED-5.

ED-39. The medical school’s chief academic officer must be responsible for the conduct and quality of the educational program and for assuring the adequacy of faculty at all educational sites.

ED-40. The principal academic officer of each geographically remote site must be administratively responsible to the chief academic officer of the medical school conducting the educational program.

Note: Questions for standards ED-39 through ED-45 should be completed only by schools that operate geographically separate campuses, as defined in the instructions for completing the database.

a. List each geographically separate campus, its location, and the name and title of the chief academic officer at the site.

b. Describe the role of the medical school’s chief academic officer in oversight of the conduct and quality of the educational program at all sites.  Include the reporting relationships between the principal academic officer at each geographically separate campus and the chief academic officer of the medical school.

c. For each geographically separate campus (including the main campus of the medical school) indicate the average number of students in a given year at that site.  The total for each year should add up to the total enrollment for that year.

ED-41. The faculty in each discipline at all sites must be functionally integrated by appropriate administrative mechanisms.

Schools should be able to demonstrate the means by which faculty at dispersed sites participate in and are held accountable for medical student education that is consistent with the objectives and performance expectations established by course or clerkship leadership.  Mechanisms to achieve functional integration may include regular meetings or electronic communication, periodic visits to all sites by course or clerkship leadership, and sharing of course or clerkship evaluation data and other types of feedback regarding faculty performance of their educational responsibilities. 

Note: Questions for standards ED-39 through ED-45 should be completed only by schools that operate geographically separate campuses, as defined in the instructions for completing the database.

Describe how faculty members in each discipline are functionally integrated across sites to assure comparability of educational experiences and of student evaluation.

See also information for standard ED-8.

ED-42. There must be a single standard for promotion and graduation of students across geographically separate campuses.

Note: Questions for standards ED-39 through ED-45 should be completed only by schools that operate geographically separate campuses, as defined in the instructions for completing the database.

Describe any variations in criteria for the promotion or graduation of students at different campuses of the medical school.

See also information for standard MS-33 in Section IV: Medical Students.

ED-43. The parent school must assume ultimate responsibility for the selection and assignment of all medical students when geographically separated campuses are operated.

ED-45. Students should have the opportunity to move among the component programs of the school.

Note: Questions for standards ED-39 through ED-45 should be completed only by schools that operate geographically separate campuses, as defined in the instructions for completing the database.

a. Describe how students are selected for and assigned to different medical school campuses. Include the process, if any, for appealing assignment to a specific site or for changing sites. Note any circumstances where decisions about student selection and assignment are not made by the parent school.

b. Are students allowed to take part of a year (i.e., individual required courses or clerkships) at a geographically separate campus? (check)

ED-44. Students assigned to all campuses should receive the same rights and support services.

Note: Questions for standards ED-39 through ED-45 should be completed only by schools that operate geographically separate campuses, as defined in the instructions for completing the database.

a. Describe any variations in student services (financial aid, health services, etc.) or in access to student services at the various campuses of the medical school. 

b. Indicate any student services that are available only at the main campus of the medical school or parent university, and the methods by which students obtain access to those services (email, travel, etc.). 

ED-46. To guide program improvement, medical schools must evaluate the effectiveness of the educational program by documenting the extent to which its objectives have been met.

ED-47. In assessing program quality, schools must consider student evaluations of their courses and teachers, and an appropriate variety of outcome measures.

Among the kinds of outcome measures that serve this purpose are data on student performance, academic progress and program completion rates, acceptance into residency programs, postgraduate performance, and practice characteristics of graduates.

a. Check all indicators used by the medical school to evaluate educational program effectiveness.

b. For each checked item, indicate

1. How the data are collected (including response rates for questionnaires)
2. What groups or individuals review the data (e.g., curriculum committee, department chairs)
3. How the information is used for curriculum review and change

c. Provide evidence that the educational program objectives in the domains of knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes are being achieved.

See also information for standard ED-1.

ED-48. Medical schools must evaluate the performance of their students and graduates in the framework of national norms of accomplishment.

If available, provide summary data on the performance of your graduates in the following:

• USMLE Step 3 or MCCQE Part II
•             Per cent passing USMLE Step 3, First-time takers:
                          1998:  98%
                          1999:  94%
                          2000: 100%
                          2001: 99%
• Graduate medical education (e.g., from surveys of graduates or residency program directors)

For U.S. Medical Schools only:

a. Indicate if students at your institution are required to take or required to pass USMLE Steps 1 and 2. (check)

b. Supply graphs provided by the National Board of Medical Examiners comparing national and school first-time takers for USMLE Steps 1 and 2.

c. For each of the past 3 years, provide USMLE results for REPEAT (not first-time) takers.

STEP 1

STEP 2 (CK)

STEP 2 (CS)

 FOR CANADIAN MEDICAL SCHOOLS ONLY:

Attach the summary table (Dean’s Report: Section II) of student performance on the MCCQE Part I examination for each of the past 3 academic years.

See also Part A, item (b.), information for standard ED-47, and Required Course and Clerkship Forms.

END OF SECTION II