Unit Policy
Title
School of Medicine: Non-Involvement of Providers of Student Healthcare Services in Student Education Policy
Introduction
Purpose
The purpose of this Policy is to establish mechanisms for avoiding conflicts of interest between a student’s Personal Healthcare Provider and the student’s medical education.
Scope
This Policy applies to all students (“Students”), including transfer students, enrolled in the Medical Doctorate (MD) Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (“University”) School of Medicine (SOM). This Policy also applies to all faculty, residents and attending physicians teaching Students in a Clinical Setting.
Policy
Policy Statement
The SOM is committed to preventing conflicts of interest between its Students’ healthcare and medical education by maintaining appropriate separation between healthcare delivery and educational assessment. In furtherance of this commitment, Students and applicable faculty, residents and attending physicians must adhere to the requirements below.
Non-Involvement of Providers of Healthcare
Student Responsibilities:
Students who recognize, prior to the start of a course, that they have been assigned to work with a faculty member or resident who has been a Personal Healthcare Provider to them must alert the Associate Dean for Student Affairs to facilitate a change in their course assignment by emailing Students Affairs leadership at SALeadership@listserv.med.unc.edu. Students who have received healthcare from a pre-assigned small group (i.e., Peer Accelerated Learning, Social and Health Systems, or Case-Based Learning) leader must also reach out to the Associate Dean for Student Affairs to facilitate a change in small group assignment.
Faculty or Resident Responsibilities:
Residents and attending physicians may not evaluate the academic performance of any Student for whom they have provided healthcare, including psychological and reproductive healthcare. Faculty or residents completing the Common Assessment Form are required to certify that they have not been involved in providing healthcare to the Student.
Faculty or residents who recognize, prior to the start of a course, that they have been assigned to work with a Student for whom they have provided personal healthcare must notify the course director that they have a conflict of interest and request a change in the Student’s assignment. Confidentiality of Student health information must be preserved at all times (e.g., the faculty member will only note that a conflict of interest exists and will not provide any information on the healthcare provided).
In situations which require that a Student/patient’s health be prioritized, conflicts of interest may be resolved at later time.
If a resident or attending physician discovers that they are assigned to a Student for whom they have provided healthcare, they must contact the course director immediately in order to assign appropriate evaluators. The notification must only indicate that there is a conflict of interest and must not include any protected health information.
Non-Involvement of Students in Fellow Students’ Healthcare
Students must not be involved in the provision of healthcare to fellow Students, even in the event of an emergency.
Students may not be placed in clinical sites that serve as designated clinics for primary care or psychological/psychiatric care for Students, including but not limited to Campus Health Services.
Students must excuse and remove themselves if they find themselves rotating on a service where a fellow Student is seeking care. This requirement applies for the duration of time that both individuals are enrolled as Students. Students seeking care will not have an option to allow peers to observe or participate in their healthcare.
To protect student privacy, SOM and regional campuses work with neighboring hospital systems to provide inpatient psychological/psychiatric healthcare to Students.
Exceptions
In the event of an emergency, a faculty member or resident must provide care to a Student even if the faculty member or resident is assigned to the Student in a teaching capacity. Following the provision of emergency care, the Student will be reassigned to a different faculty member or resident.
Definitions
Clinical Setting: Refers to any healthcare environment in which learners participate in or observe patient care activities under appropriate supervision for the purpose of developing clinical knowledge, skills, professional behaviors, and decision-making abilities.
Personal Healthcare Provider: Refers to a licensed healthcare professional who an individual, or a member of such individual’s immediate family, identifies as their source of medical care and advice.
Related Requirements
External Regulations
Unit Policies, Standards, and Procedures
Contact Information
Primary Contact
Name: Alice Chuang, Associate Dean for Student Affairs
Email: Alice_Chuang@med.unc.edu