Unit Policy
Title
School of Medicine: Policy on Application Phase Campus Assignment, Exemption, and Reassignment
Introduction
Purpose
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (University) School of Medicine (SOM) Medical Doctorate Program has six clinical learning sites/campuses: (1) Asheville, (2) Central Cross-Regional, (3) Charlotte, (4) Greensboro, (5) Raleigh, and (6) Wilmington, where Medical Doctorate Program students engage in clinical learning across the Application and Individualization Phases (3rd and 4th years) of its curriculum. This Policy establishes the mechanisms by which students request assignment and are assigned to clinical learning sites/campuses in their Application Phase.
Scope
This Policy applies to all faculty and staff of the SOM responsible for, or involved in, facilitating the assignment of students to clinical learning sites/campuses and to all students requiring assignment to a clinical learning site for the Application Phase.
Policy
Policy Statement
This Policy outlines the SOM requirements necessary to ensure that students are appropriately assigned to clinical learning sites/campuses to obtain the clinical experience required by their curriculums.
Any yearly changes in the capacity of the clinical learning sites/campuses to host students are communicated to students by the Senior Director of Student Affairs and/or Senior Director of Curricular affairs at class meetings during the MS1 year (first year of the MD program curriculum).
In the spring semester of their MS1 year, students must submit a rank order preference via a Qualtrics form for the six campus sites. Students who are enrolled in Specific Programs shall be automatically assigned to a site corresponding to their program.
Students not in such programs may submit a request to be exempt from the assignment process if they either have Substantial Primary Caregiving Responsibilities for another person or have a health matter that requires Frequent, In-person Care with a licensed clinical health professional. Such students requesting exemptions may request a placement at any of the SOM campuses or sites. A committee of Student Affairs staff will review these requests and approve or deny them before the rankings are required and the site optimization program executed. These students will be notified of their placement in advance.
A student who is granted an exemption from the assignment process is not permitted to Pod with any other student(s). Students granted an exemption from the assignment process will not be assigned rotations at the Raleigh or Greensboro site.
The Senior Directors for Student Affairs and Curricular Affairs will enter students’ placement rankings into a computer program that optimizes site placements for the best possible ranking for each student and optimizes each site’s capacity. All students will then be notified of their site placements. Students are not permitted to swap assignments generally or with each other.
During the Neurons to Networks course in the third semester of Foundation Phase, students will have the opportunity to request a campus reassignment if their life circumstances have changed to have Substantial Primary Caregiving Responsibilities or a health matter that requires Frequent, In-person Care with a licensed clinical health professional. A committee of Student Affairs staff will review these requests and approve or deny them.
If a student requests a campus reassignment after the formal process during the Neurons to Networks course, a Student Affairs committee will review the request to approve or deny it. However, a student who is granted a campus reassignment at this time cannot be guaranteed a spring semester placement due to regularly fluctuating site capacity.
Exceptions
Students who are enrolled in Specific Programs will be automatically assigned to a site corresponding to their program.
Definitions
Central Cross-Regional Assignments: Assignments that may be to clinics at any location from Greensboro to east of Raleigh. These assignments may vary between and within each Application Phase course.
Foundation Phase: The first eighteen (18) months of the medical school curriculum comprised of:
- Nine (9) Medical Science courses (three per semester)
- Three (3) semesters of Patient Centered Care (PCC)
- Three (3) semesters of Social and Health Systems (SHS)
Application Phase: The 12-month phase of the medical school curriculum dedicated to core clinical experiences, beginning in March and ending in February of the following, year consisting of:
- Six (6) clinical courses:
- Community Based Primary Care
- Pediatrics
- Medicine
- Surgery
- Psychiatry
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- One (1) longitudinal course:
- Social and Health Systems 4
Individualization Phase: The final (fourteen) 14 months of the medical school curriculum dedicated to the completion of graduation requirements and electives tailored to a student’s career interest, beginning in March and ending in May of the following year consisting of:
- Two (2) Acting Internships
- One (1) Critical Care Selective
- One (1) Advanced Clinical Selective
- Four (4) Electives
- Two (2) longitudinal courses:
- Science of Medicine
- Social and Health Systems 5
- Transition to Residency (to be completed at the end of the phase
Substantial Primary Caregiving Responsibilities: Responsibilities for the care of another person who is unable to live independently.
Frequent, In-person Care: Clinical in-person care with a licensed clinical health professional that cannot be completed via telehealth and occurs at least every other week.
Pod: A group of two or three students that submit a single preference rank order form for all students within the group for the purpose of all students within the group being assigned to the same campus.
Specific Programs: Kenan Urban Scholars Program, Community Health Track Program, MD/PhD Program, FIRST Program
Related Requirements
External Regulations
Unit Policies, Standards, and Procedures
Contact Information
Primary Contact
Name: Mary Hauser
Email: mary_hauser@med.unc.edu
Other Contacts
Name: Valerie Glassman
Email: Valerie_glassman@med.unc.edu