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LCME Accreditation

‘LCME Connection’ Newsletter

<< Back to LCME Homepage

A weekly look at themes from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accreditation process.
Highlighted in the Dean's Update Newsletter each week.

Sections:

STANDARD 1:

Mission, Planning, Organization, and Integrity

STANDARD 2:

Leadership and Administration

STANDARD 3:

Academic and Learning Environments

STANDARD 4:

Faculty Preparation, Productivity, Participation, and Policies

 

STANDARD 5:

Educational Resources and Infrastructure

STANDARD 6:

Competencies, Curricular Objectives, and Curricular Design

STANDARD 7:

Curricular Content

Standard 8:

Curricular Management,
Evaluation, and Enhancement

 

Standard 9:

Teaching, Supervision, Assessment, and Student and Patient Safety

Standard 10:

Medical Student Selection,
Assignment, and Progress

Standard 11:

Medical Student Academic Support, Career Advising, and Educational Records

Standard 12:

Medical Student Health Services, Personal Counseling, and Financial Aid Services

 

 

Standard 1: Mission, Planning, Organization, and Integrity

Strategic Plan Icons

1.1 Strategic Planning and Continuous Quality Improvement

A medical school engages in ongoing strategic planning and continuous quality improvement processes that establish its short and long-term programmatic goals, result in the achievement of measurable outcomes that are used to improve educational program quality, and ensure effective monitoring of the medical education program’s compliance with accreditation standards.

Mission: The mission of The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences is to improve health in the communities and region we serve. We do this by educating excellent clinicians and scientists, by providing patient centered and high-quality care and by producing nationally recognized research in focused areas.

Vision: The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences, with its partner ProMedica, is nationally recognized for education and focused research, and regionally distinguished for comprehensive clinical care.

The University rolled out a new five-year strategic plan in 2017, which consisted of five sections that included immediate, short-term, and long-term goals.

In February 2019, a call for nominations was sent out to the College faculty and staff to serve on committees to create a new strategic plan for the COMLS, which will align with the university-wide strategic plan. Five subcommittees were identified to draft each section of the plan, the Dean discussed the process with the COMLS Executive Committee members, and a committee was charged with combining the five sections into one draft strategic plan that was submitted to the Dean for review. The Dean reviewed the draft strategic plan with the COMLS Executive Committee and has posted the plan for open comments from COMLS faculty, staff, residents and students. This draft will be revised after review of comments, reviewed at a Dean’s faculty meeting, sent to the COMLS Executive Committee and the COMLS Faculty Council for approval, and then will be shared with the Provost. The outcomes of the school’s strategic plan will be monitored by the Dean’s office twice per year (April and October). Each section will have a primary individual responsible for that section’s review. Read the draft Strategic Plan and provide feedback through Feb. 6.

The process of continuous quality improvement in the medical education program involves multiple groups and individuals who are central to reviewing and acting on programmatic data collected. These efforts are systematized to provide effective monitoring of the quality of the program and to effectively monitor compliance with accreditation standards.

In March 2019, COMLS officially approved the College of Medicine & Life Sciences Continuous Quality Improvement Policy for the M.D. Program (PDF link). Each of the four curriculum committees discussed current processes in place and utilized the LCME white paper on Implementing a System for Monitoring Performance in LCME Accreditation Standards to draft the policy that identifies the elements to be included for monitoring. The purpose of the policy is to formally support the program’s ongoing planning and CQI processes to ensure effective monitoring for compliance with accreditation standards. The Assistant Dean for Assessment & Accreditation and Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education have core responsibility for and authority to manage the CQI effort in the medical school.

1.2 Conflict of Interest Policies 

A medical school has in place and follows effective policies and procedures applicable to board members, faculty members, and any other individuals who participate in decision-making affecting the medical education program to avoid the impact of conflicts of interest in the operation of the medical education program, its associated clinical facilities, and any related enterprises.

The following policies are in place to avoid conflicts of interest:

  1. Governing Board Members
    • Policy 3364-1-06 (page 14 of Bylaws), Conflict of Interest for Members of the Board of Trustees
  2. University and Medical School Administrators
    • Policy 3364-25-50, Conflict of Interest
    • Policy 3364-25-18, Nepotism
    • *See policies listed below in #3 also, which may apply to administrators depending on their activities.
  3. Medical School Faculty

1.3 Mechanisms for Faculty Participation

A medical school ensures that there are effective mechanisms in place for direct faculty participation in decision-making related to the medical education program, including opportunities for faculty participation in discussions about, and the establishment of, policies and procedures for the program, as appropriate.

The medical school has 25 standing committees comprised of faculty and student members in which each committee charge outlines participation in decision-making. The standing committees are reviewed annually. Faculty receive a call for nominations to participate on these committees. The final list of standing committees and their charges are endorsed by the COMLS Faculty Council.

The majority of the medical school policies are reviewed by the College's standing committees. Policies are also posted for 30-day comment on the UToledo Policy Website and shared through University emails. 

1.4 Affiliation Agreements

In the relationship between a medical school and its clinical affiliates, the educational program for all medical students remains under the control of the medical school’s faculty, as specified in written affiliation agreements that define the responsibilities of each party related to the medical education program. Written agreements are necessary with clinical affiliates that are used regularly for required clinical experiences; such agreements may also be warranted with other clinical facilities that have a significant role in the clinical education program. Such agreements provide for, at a minimum the following:

  • The assurance of medical student and faculty access to appropriate resources for medical student education
  • The primacy of the medical education program’s authority over academic affairs and the education/assessment of medical students
  • The role of the medical school in the appointment and assignment of faculty members with responsibility for medical student teaching
  • Specification of the responsibility for treatment and follow-up when a medical student is exposed to an infectious or environmental hazard or other occupational injury
  • The shared responsibility of the clinical affiliate and the medical school for creating and maintaining an appropriate learning environment

The University maintains memorandums of understanding (MOUs) or other forms of affiliation agreement with clinical sites. The AAMC Uniform Clinical Training Affiliation Agreement is our preferred form of agreement.

If the site insists on another form of agreement, the offices of Medical Education and Legal Affairs review the agreements to ensure that the LCME standards are properly addressed.

1.5 Bylaws

A medical school promulgates bylaws or similar policy documents that describe the responsibilities and privileges of its administrative officers, faculty, and committees.

The College of Medicine and Life Sciences' full- and part-time faculty members are governed by the Faculty Rules & Regulations document, which is revised periodically by elected faculty members, and approved by the Board of Trustees. The Faculty Committee on Rules and Regulations revised the bylaws in fall 2019. The revised document was then sent to the Provost, Dean, and faculty for review in December 2019. Once the approval process is complete, the bylaws will be reviewed by the President who will then present them to the University of Toledo Board of Trustees for final approval in the spring. A clear set of policies and procedures are also available on the University’s website as well as in the Office of Faculty Affairs.

1.6 Eligibility Requirements

A medical school ensures that its medical education program meets all eligibility requirements of the LCME for initial and continuing accreditation, including receipt of degree-granting authority and accreditation by a regional accrediting body by either the medical school or its parent institution.

The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences medical school is fully accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, and the next accreditation survey site visit is scheduled for April 25-28, 2021. Our parent institution, The University of Toledo, is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

Standard 2: Leadership and Administration

A medical school has a sufficient number of faculty in leadership roles and of senior administrative staff with the skills, time, and administrative support necessary to achieve the goals of the medical education program and to ensure the functional integration of all programmatic components.

2.1 Administrative Officer and Faculty Appointments

The senior administrative staff and faculty of a medical school are appointed by, or on the authority of, the governing board of the institution.

Per University Policy 3364-25-62, Appointment and Classification, The Board of Trustees is designated as the Appointing Authority for purposes set forth in Chapter 124 of the Revised Code. The Board of Trustees through Resolution 17-12-33, Administrative Officials as the Appointing Authority, has designated the President and individuals holding specific titles as Appointing Authority. However, all appointments require final approval by the Board of Trustees.

2.2 Dean’s Qualifications

The dean of a medical school is qualified by education, training, and experience to provide effective leadership in medical education, scholarly activity, patient care, and other missions of the medical school. 

The dean is responsible for the school’s educational mission including undergraduate medical education, graduate medical education, and graduate education. The dean is also responsible for the research mission. The health system reports to the dean, which includes the direct responsibility of the clinical mission of the faculty. The dean chairs the Board of The University of Toledo Physicians Clinical faculty, which is the practice plan for the clinical faculty. All of the clinical and basic science department chairs report directly to the dean as well as the associate deans.

2.3 Access and Authority of the Dean

The dean of a medical school has sufficient access to the university president or other institutional official charged with final responsibility for the medical education program and to other institutional officials in order to fulfill his or her responsibilities; there is a clear definition of the dean’s authority and responsibility for the medical education program.

The dean reports directly to the president of the university for clinical matters and the provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs for academic matters. The dean serves on the president’s Senior Leadership Team that meets weekly. The dean holds a Health System Cabinet meeting weekly that includes health system administrators including the chief executive officer, chief medical officer, and chief financial officer of The University of Toledo Medical Center. The dean and health system administrators also have a weekly meeting with the president on health system matters.

2.4 Sufficiency of Administrative Staff

A medical school has in place a sufficient number of associate or assistant deans, leaders of organizational units, and senior administrative staff who are able to commit the time necessary to accomplish the missions of the medical school.

View Org Chart

Standard 3: Academic and Learning Environments

Photo of students in the classroom.

A medical school ensures that its medical education program occurs in professional, respectful, and intellectually stimulating academic and clinical environments, recognizes the benefits of diversity, and promotes students’ attainment of competencies required of future physicians.

The COMLS has multiple options for students to securely and anonymously report concerns. All of the opportunities below provide a safe place to report issues without fear of retaliation: 

  1. Learning Environment Assessment and Event Report – accessible 24/7 for medical students
  2. New! Monthly Feedback Survey – emailed to students at the middle of each month
  3. Annual Learning Environment Survey – emailed to students each December
  4. M1/M2 End of System Evaluation – emailed to students at the close of each system
  5. M1/M2 Weekly Evaluation of Faculty – emailed to students at the end of each week
  6. M3 Preceptor, Site, and End of Clerkship Evaluations – available through MedEd system
  7. M4 Preceptor and Common Elective Evaluations – available through MedEd system

3.1 Resident Participation in Medical Student Education

Each medical student in a medical education program participates in one or more required clinical experiences conducted in a health care setting in which he or she works with resident physicians currently enrolled in an accredited program of graduate medical education.

3.2 Community of Scholars/Research Opportunities

A medical education program is conducted in an environment that fosters the intellectual challenge and spirit of inquiry appropriate to a community of scholars and provides sufficient opportunities, encouragement, and support for medical student participation in the research and other scholarly activities of its faculty.
 
The Office of Student Affairs (OSA) manages resources for medical students interested in research. OSA runs the Medical Student Research Program (MSRP), which is a competitive program that selects students and projects of merit. Selection is completed by the Medical Student Research Committee who reviews all projects and student applicants. MSRP information is provided to M1 students during orientation, summer opportunities are discussed during an OSA presentation in September, and information is shared during mandatory M1 CV review sessions, via direct email to the M1 class, and through the OSA website.
 
The OSA also maintains and distributes research opportunities in basic science and clinical departments both at UTMC and ProMedica. OSA disseminates information for research opportunities at other universities and has been successful placing students at NYU, Vanderbilt, Massachusetts General Hospital, and many others.

3.3 Diversity/Pipeline Programs and Partnerships

A medical school has effective policies and practices in place, and engages in ongoing, systematic, and focused recruitment and retention activities, to achieve mission-appropriate diversity outcomes among its students, faculty, senior administrative staff, and other relevant members of its academic community. These activities include the use of programs and/or partnerships aimed at achieving diversity among qualified applicants for medical school admission and the evaluation of program and partnership outcomes.

Learn more about College of Medicine and Life Sciences diversity initiatives.

3.4 Anti-Discrimination Policy

A medical school does not discriminate on the basis of age, creed, gender identity, national origin, race, sex, or sexual orientation.

Learn more about the university's nondiscrimination policy.

3.5 Learning Environment/Professionalism

A medical school ensures that the learning environment of its medical education program is conducive to the ongoing development of explicit and appropriate professional behaviors in its medical students, faculty, and staff at all locations. The medical school and its clinical affiliates share the responsibility for periodic evaluation of the learning environment in order to identify positive and negative influences on the maintenance of professional standards, develop and conduct appropriate strategies to enhance positive and mitigate negative influences, and identify and promptly correct violations of professional standards.

3.6 Student Mistreatment

A medical school develops effective written policies that define mistreatment, has effective mechanisms in place for a prompt response to any complaints, and supports educational activities aimed at preventing mistreatment. Mechanisms for reporting mistreatment are understood by medical students, including visiting medical students, and ensure that any violations can be registered and investigated without fear of retaliation.

Standard 4: Faculty Preparation, Productivity, Participation, and Policies

The faculty members of a medical school are qualified through their education, training, experience, and continuing professional development and provide the leadership and support necessary to attain the institution's educational, research, and service goals.

4.1 Sufficiency of Faculty

A medical school has in place a sufficient cohort of faculty members with the qualifications and time required to deliver the medical curriculum and to meet the other needs and fulfill the other missions of the institution.

396

Salaried Faculty

1,000

Community-Based Faculty

284

ProMedica Practitioners

 

4.2 Scholarly Productivity

The faculty of a medical school demonstrate a commitment to continuing scholarly productivity that is characteristic of an institution of higher learning.  

4.3 Faculty Appointment Policies

A medical school has clear policies and procedures in place for faculty appointment, renewal of appointment, promotion, granting of tenure, remediation, and dismissal that involve the faculty, the appropriate department heads, and the dean, and provides each faculty member with written information about his or her term of appointment, responsibilities, lines of communication, privileges and benefits, performance evaluation and remediation, terms of dismissal, and, if relevant, the policy on practice earnings.

For information on policies, faculty appointment, tenure and promotion, and other resources, go to the COMLS Faculty Affairs website.

4.4 Feedback to Faculty

A medical school faculty member receives regularly scheduled and timely feedback from departmental and/or other programmatic or institutional leaders on his or her academic performance and progress toward promotion and, when applicable, tenure.

It is the responsibility of the department chair to conduct an annual performance review and evaluation of departmental faculty as outlined in the Departments and Departmental Chairs for the University Colleges Policy 3364-72-05.

4.5 Faculty Professional Development

A medical school and/or its sponsoring institution provides opportunities for professional development to each faculty member in the areas of discipline content, curricular design, program evaluation, student assessment methods, instructional methodology, and or research to enhance his or her skills and leadership abilities in these areas.

Opportunities for faculty development are emailed and posted on the COMLS Faculty Affairs website.

4.6 Responsibility for Medical School Policies

At a medical school, the dean and a committee of the faculty determine the governance and policymaking processes within their purview.

Standard 5: Educational Resources and Infrastructure

A medical school has sufficient personnel, financial resources, physical facilities, equipment, and clinical, instructional, informational, technological, and other resources readily available and accessible across all locations to meet its needs and to achieve its goals.

5.1 Adequacy of Financial Resources

The present and anticipated financial resources of a medical school are derived from diverse sources and are adequate to sustain a sound program of medical education and to accomplish other programmatic and institutional goals.

5.2 Dean's Authority/Resources

The dean of a medical school has sufficient resources and budgetary authority to fulfill his or her responsibility for the management and evaluation of the medical curriculum.

5.3 Pressures for Self-Financing

A medical school admits only as many qualified applicants as its total resources can accommodate and does not permit financial or other influences to compromise the school's educational mission.

The dean, in consultation with senior leadership of the College of Medicine and Life Science, determines the number of students matriculating to the M.D. program annually. The college has set an entering class size of 175 students in each year since 2008-2009.

5.4 Sufficiency of Buildings and Equipment

A medical school has, or is assured the use of, buildings and equipment sufficient to achieve its educational, clinical, and research missions.

Two large lecture halls have been renovated in the last three years to support the new curriculum. The renovations facilitate small group discussion and enhanced audio/visual technology. The Lloyd A. Jacobs Interprofessional Immersive Simulation Center (IISC) was opened in Spring 2014. The $32.5M, 65,000 square feet center houses state-of-the-art medical education technologies and facilities including virtual immersive reality, advanced clinical simulation, and surgical skills simulation.

The Hillebrand Clinical Skills Center utilizes standardized patients to create an interactive and formative educational experience that provides students a supportive environment to develop their interpersonal and empathetic skills, as well as their diagnostic, physical assessment and problem-solving techniques. The Hillebrand Center is used by students during their foundational science years as well as during clerkships for observed structured clinical examinations. IISC allows our students to learn using virtual immersive reality, clinical simulation, and surgical simulation training with fresh tissue and plastination models. The simulation center houses a virtual hospital with an ICU, trauma suite, OB and delivery suite, and operating room equipped with human patient simulators, clinical equipment and debriefing and control rooms.

5.5 Resources for Clinical Instruction

A medical school has, or is assured the use of, appropriate resources for the clinical instruction of its medical students in ambulatory and inpatient settings and has adequate numbers and types of patients (e.g., acuity, case mix, age, gender).

5.6 Clinical Instructional Facilities/Information Resources

Each hospital or other clinical facility affiliated with a medical school that serves as a major location for required clinical learning experiences has sufficient information resources and instructional facilities for medical student education.

According to the 2019-20 ISA, medical students were satisfied with the educational spaces at affiliated hospitals:

Table 5.6-2a | Clerkship Resources by Curriculum Year – Educational/Teaching Spaces at Hospitals

Medical School Class

Number of Total Responses to this item

Number and % of N/A Responses

Number and % of combined

Dissatisfied and Very Dissatisfied

Responses

Number and % of combined 

Satisfied and

Very Satisfied Responses

N

%

N

%

N

%

M3

166

4

2.4

9

5.4

153

92.2

M4

148

0

0.0

13

8.8

135

91.2

Total

314

4

1.3

22

7.0

288

91.7

5.7 Security, Student Safety, and Disaster Preparedness

A medical school ensures that adequate security systems are in place at all locations and publishes policies and procedures to ensure student safety and to address emergency and disaster preparedness. 

The University of Toledo Health Science Campus has licensed police officers and security personnel on site at all times. Buildings on the medical school campus have access control systems to limit access to unauthorized individuals. The university has an emergency warning system to notify students in the event of an emergency and mass notification systems, including the ability to quickly send text messages via “UT Alert” and outside and indoor public address systems. The university provides students and staff a mobile application, Rave Guardian, that provides alerts based on location, ability to immediately notify Campus Police, and to obtain emergency procedures.

5.8 Library Resources/Staff

A medical school provides ready access to well-maintained library resources sufficient in breadth of holdings and technology to support its educational and other missions. Library services are supervised by a professional staff that is familiar with regional and national information resources and data systems and is responsive to the needs of the medical students, faculty members, and others associated with the institution.

According to the 2019-20 ISA, medical students were satisfied with the library support and services:

Table 5.8-2b | Student Satisfaction with the Library by Curriculum Year – Library Support and Services Quality

Medical School Class

Number of Total Responses to this item

Number and % of N/A Responses

Number and % of combined

Dissatisfied and Very Dissatisfied Responses

Number and % of combined 

Satisfied and

Very Satisfied Responses

N

%

N

%

N

%

M1

175

6

3.4

4

2.3

165

94.3

M2

157

16

10.2

3

1.9

138

87.9

M3

167

5

3.0

2

1.2

160

95.8

M4

148

4

2.7

4

2.7

140

94.6

Total

647

31

4.8

13

2.0

603

93.2

5.9 Information Technology Resources/Staff

A medical school provides access to well-maintained information technology resources sufficient in scope to support its educational and other missions. The information technology staff serving a medical education program has sufficient expertise to fulfill its responsibilities and is responsive to the needs of the medical students, faculty members, and others associated with the institution.

Members from the IT services work closely with the Department of Medical Education to develop and maintain the educational and learning management systems that support the medical school curriculum.

5.10 Resources Used by Transfer/Visiting Students

The resources used by a medical school to accommodate any visiting and transfer medical students in its medical education program do not significantly diminish the resources available to already enrolled medical students.

The COMLS medical school does not accept transfer students. Decisions to accept visiting students are made by the respective clerkship directors based on the availability of clinical experiences after verification by the Department of Medical Education that the student has fulfilled all of the requirement to be eligible. Clerkship directors only accept visiting students, in accordance with the College of Medicine Visiting Medical Students in Elective Clinical Clerkships policy 3364-81-04-012-09, after verification that the visiting student will not displace or otherwise compete for available educational venues with COMLS medical students. 

5.11 Study/Lounge/Storage Space/Call Rooms

A medical school ensures that its medical students at each campus and affiliated clinical site have adequate study space, lounge areas, personal lockers or other secure storage facilities, and secure call rooms if students are required to participate in late night or overnight clinical learning experiences.

Lounge and relaxation space is available in the Health Education Building near the primary classrooms used by M1 and M2 students. There is also lounge/relaxation space in the basement and on the 3rd floor of the Mulford Library Building, including a kitchenette, ping pong and billiards tables. Additional lounge/relaxation space will be opened in the Spring of 2020 in the basement of Mulford Library. All students are assigned personal secure lockers on the campus of the medical school, and many sites offer lockers and/or secure storage areas for students participating in clinical clerkships. ProMedica Toledo Hospital has designated lockers and a lounge/relaxation space for use by students and residents. Many of the sites used for required clinical clerkships, including Riverside Methodist Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital, St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, and Mercy St. Rita’s Hospital have lounge/relaxation spaces and storage areas for students.

5.12 Required Notifications to the LCME

A medical school notifies the LCME of any substantial change in the number of enrolled medical students; of any decrease in the resources available to the institution for its medical education program, including faculty, physical facilities, or finances; of its plans for any major modification of its medical curriculum; and/or of anticipated changes in the affiliation status of the program’s clinical facilities. The program also provides prior notification to the LCME if it plans to increase entering medical student enrollment on the main campus and/or in one or more existing regional campuses above the threshold of 10 percent, or 15 medical students in one year or 20 percent in three years; or to start a new or to expand an existing regional campus; or to initiate a new parallel curriculum (track).

Standard 6: Competencies, Curricular Objectives, and Curricular Design

The faculty of a medical school define the competencies to be achieved by its medical students through medical education program objectives and is responsible for the detailed design and implementation of the components of a medical curriculum that enable its medical students to achieve those competencies and objectives. Medical education program objectives are statements of the knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes that medical students are expected to exhibit as evidence of their achievement by completion of the program.

6.1 Program and Learning Objectives

The faculty of a medical school define its medical education program objectives in outcome-based terms that allow the assessment of medical students’ progress in developing the competencies that the profession and the public expect of a physician. The medical school makes these medical education program objectives known to all medical students and faculty. In addition, the medical school ensures that the learning objectives for each required learning experience (e.g., course, clerkship) are made known to all medical students and those faculty, residents, and others with teaching and assessment responsibilities in those required experiences.

View our educational program objectives for the medical school (PDF).

6.2 Required Clinical Experiences

The faculty of a medical school define the types of patients and clinical conditions that medical students are required to encounter, the skills to be performed by medical students, the appropriate clinical settings for these experiences, and the expected levels of medical student responsibility.

6.3 Self-Directed and Life-Long Learning

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the medical curriculum includes self-directed learning experiences and unscheduled time to allow medical students to develop the skills of lifelong learning. Self-directed learning involves medical students' self-assessment of learning needs; independent identification, analysis, and synthesis of relevant information; appraisal of the credibility of information sources; and feedback on these skills.

ISA Data - Satisfaction with Opportunities for Service Learning/Community Service

Medical School Class

Number of Total Responses

Number and % of combined Satisfied and Very Satisfied Responses

N

%

M1

175

162

92.6

M2

158

140

88.6

M3

167

147

88.0

M4

148

141

95.3

Total

648

590

91.0

6.4 Inpatient/Outpatient Experiences

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the medical curriculum includes clinical experiences in both outpatient and inpatient settings.

6.5 Elective Opportunities

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the medical curriculum includes elective opportunities that supplement required learning experiences and that permit medical students to gain exposure to and expand their understanding of medical specialties, and to pursue their individual academic interests.

6.6 Service-Learning/Community Service

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the medical education program provides sufficient opportunities for, encourages, and supports medical student participation in service-learning and/or community service activities.

6.7 Academic Environments

The faculty of a medical school ensure that medical students have opportunities to learn in academic environments that permit interaction with students enrolled in other health professions, graduate and professional degree programs, and in clinical environments that provide opportunities for interaction with physicians in graduate medical education programs and in continuing medical education programs.

6.8 Education Program Duration

A medical education program includes at least 130 weeks of instruction.

Table 6.8-1 | Number of Scheduled Weeks per Year

The number of scheduled weeks of instruction in each phase of the curriculum:

Curriculum Phase

Number of Scheduled Weeks

Pre-clerkship phase

66 

Core Clerkship phase

49

Advanced clerkship phase

36

Total weeks of scheduled instruction

151

Standard 7: Curricular Content

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the medical curriculum provides content of sufficient breadth and depth to prepare medical students for entry into any residency program and for the subsequent contemporary practice of medicine.

7.1 Biomedical, Behavioral, Social Sciences

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the medical curriculum includes content from the biomedical, behavioral, and socioeconomic sciences to support medical students' mastery of contemporary medical science knowledge and concepts and the methods fundamental to applying them to the health of individuals and populations.

7.2 Organ Systems / Life Cycle / Primary Care / Prevention / Symptoms / Signs / Differential Diagnosis, Treatment Planning, Impact of Behavioral and Social Factors

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the medical curriculum includes content and clinical experiences related to each organ system; each phase of the human life cycle; continuity of care; and preventive, acute, chronic, rehabilitative, and end-of-life care.

7.3 Scientific Method/Clinical/Translational Research

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the medical curriculum includes instruction in the scientific method and in the basic scientific and ethical principles of clinical and translational research, including the ways in which such research is conducted, evaluated, explained to patients, and applied to patient care.

7.4 Critical Judgment/Problem-Solving Skills

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the medical curriculum incorporates the fundamental principles of medicine, provides opportunities for medical students to acquire skills of critical judgment based on evidence and experience, and develops medical students' ability to use those principles and skills effectively in solving problems of health and disease.

7.5 Societal Problems

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the medical curriculum includes instruction in the diagnosis, prevention, appropriate reporting, and treatment of the medical consequences of common societal problems.

7.6 Cultural Competence and Health Care Disparities

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the medical curriculum provides opportunities for medical students to learn to recognize and appropriately address gender and cultural biases in themselves, in others, and in the health care delivery process. The medical curriculum includes instruction regarding the following:

  • The manner in which people of diverse cultures and belief systems perceive health and illness and respond to various symptoms, diseases, and treatments
  • The basic principles of culturally competent health care
  • Recognition of the impact of disparities in health care on medically underserved populations and potential solutions to eliminate health care disparities
  • The knowledge, skills, and core professional attributes (e.g., altruism, accountability) needed to provide effective care in a multidimensional and diverse society

7.7 Medical Ethics

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the medical curriculum includes instruction for medical students in medical ethics and human values both prior to and during their participation in patient care activities and require medical students to behave ethically in caring for patients and in relating to patients' families and others involved in patient care.

7.8 Communication Skills

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the medical curriculum includes specific instruction in communication skills as they relate to communication with patients and their families, colleagues, and other health professionals.

7.9 Interprofessional Collaborative Skills

The faculty of a medical school ensure that the core curriculum of the medical education program prepares medical students to function collaboratively on health care teams that include health professionals from other disciplines as they provide coordinated services to patients. These curricular experiences include practitioners and/or students from the other health professions.

Standard 8: Curricular Management, Evaluation, and Enhancement

The faculty of a medical school engage in curricular revision and program evaluation activities to ensure that medical education program quality is maintained and enhanced and that medical students achieve all medical education program objectives and participate in required clinical experiences and settings.

8.1 Curricular Management

A medical school has in place an institutional body (e.g., a faculty committee) that oversees the medical education program as a whole and has responsibility for the overall design, management, integration, evaluation, and enhancement of a coherent and coordinated medical curriculum.

The Executive Curriculum Committee has primary responsibility for the oversight and management of the curriculum. The source of its authority is the Curriculum Governance policy, 3364-81-04-001-00.

8.2 Use of Medical Educational Program Objectives

The faculty of a medical school, through the faculty committee responsible for the medical curriculum, ensure that the medical curriculum uses formally adopted medical education program objectives to guide the selection of curriculum content, and to review and revise the curriculum. The faculty leadership responsible for each required course and clerkship link the learning objectives of that course or clerkship to the medical education program objectives.

8.3 Curricular Design, Review, Revision/Content Monitoring

The faculty of a medical school, through the faculty committee responsible for the medical curriculum, are responsible for the detailed development, design, and implementation of all components of the medical education program, including the medical education program objectives, the learning objectives for each required curricular segment, instructional and assessment methods appropriate for the achievement of those objectives, content and content sequencing, ongoing review and updating of content, and evaluation of course, clerkship, and teacher quality. These medical education program objectives, learning objectives, content, and instructional and assessment methods are subject to ongoing monitoring, review, and revision by the responsible committee.

8.4 Evaluation of Educational Program Outcomes

A medical school collects and uses a variety of outcome data, including national norms of accomplishment, to demonstrate the extent to which medical students are achieving medical education program objectives and to enhance the quality of the medical education program as a whole. These data are collected during program enrollment and after program completion.

8.5 Medical Student Feedback

In evaluating medical education program quality, a medical school has formal processes in place to collect and consider medical student evaluations of their courses, clerkships, and teachers, and other relevant information.

The Department of Medical Education communicates actions taken in response to student feedback in the monthly newsletter, Inside Medical Education. Watch for updates in the "You Said...We Did..." section.

8.6 Monitoring of Completion of Required Clinical Experiences

A medical school has in place a system with central oversight that monitors and ensures completion by all medical students of required clinical experiences in the medical education program and remedies any identified gaps.

8.7 Comparability of Education/Assessment

A medical school ensures that the medical curriculum includes comparable educational experiences and equivalent methods of assessment across all locations within a given course and clerkship to ensure that all medical students achieve the same medical education program objectives.

8.8 Monitoring Student Time

The medical school faculty committee responsible for the medical curriculum and the program's administration and leadership ensure the development and implementation of effective policies and procedures regarding the amount of time medical students spend in required activities, including the total number of hours medical students are required to spend in clinical and educational activities during clerkships.

Standard 9: Teaching, Supervision, Assessment, and Student and Patient Safety

A medical school ensures that its medical education program includes a comprehensive, fair, and uniform system of formative and summative medical student assessment and protects medical students' and patients' safety by ensuring that all persons who teach, supervise, and/or assess medical students are adequately prepared for those responsibilities.

9.1 Preparation of Resident and Non-Faculty Instructors

In a medical school, residents, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and other non-faculty instructors in the medical education program who supervise or teach medical students are familiar with the learning objectives of the course or clerkship and are prepared for their roles in teaching and assessment. The medical school provides resources to enhance residents' and non-faculty instructors' teaching and assessment skills, and provides central monitoring of their participation in those opportunities.

GME Resident Supervision Policy 3364-86-025-00 (PDF)

9.2 Faculty Appointments

A medical school ensures that supervision of medical student learning experiences is provided throughout required clerkships by members of the school’s faculty.

9.3 Clinical Supervision of Medical Students

A medical school ensures that medical students in clinical learning situations involving patient care are appropriately supervised at all times in order to ensure patient and student safety, that the level of responsibility delegated to the student is appropriate to his or her level of training, and that the activities supervised are within the scope of practice of the supervising health professional.

9.4 Assessment System

A medical school ensures that, throughout its medical education program, there is a centralized system in place that employs a variety of measures (including direct observation) for the assessment of student achievement, including students' acquisition of the knowledge, core clinical skills (e.g., medical history-taking, physical examination), behaviors, and attitudes specified in medical education program objectives, and that ensures that all medical students achieve the same medical education program objectives.

9.5 Narrative Assessment

A medical school ensures that a narrative description of a medical student's performance, including his or her non-cognitive achievement, is included as a component of the assessment in each required course and clerkship of the medical education program whenever teacher-student interaction permits this form of assessment.

9.6 Setting Standards of Achievement

A medical school ensures that faculty members with appropriate knowledge and expertise set standards of achievement in each required learning experience in the medical education program.

9.7 Formative Assessment and Feedback 

The medical school’s curricular governance committee ensures that each medical student is assessed and provided with formal formative feedback early enough during each required course or clerkship to allow sufficient time for remediation. Formal feedback occurs at least at the midpoint of the course or clerkship. A course or clerkship less than four weeks in length provides alternate means by which a medical student can measure his or her progress in learning.

9.8 Fair and Timely Summative Assessment 

A medical school has in place a system of fair and timely summative assessment of medical student achievement in each course and clerkship of the medical education program. Final grades are available within six weeks of the end of a course or clerkship.
  • Final Grade Submission for Threads/Course and Clerkships: Policy 3364-81-14 (PDF)

9.9 Student Advancement and Appeal Process 

A medical school ensures that the medical education program has a single set of core standards for the advancement and graduation of all medical students across all locations. A subset of medical students may have academic requirements in addition to the core standards if they are enrolled in a parallel curriculum. A medical school ensures that there is a fair and formal process for taking any action that may affect the status of a medical student, including timely notice of the impending action, disclosure of the evidence on which the action would be based, an opportunity for the medical student to respond, and an opportunity to appeal any adverse decision related to advancement, graduation, or dismissal.

  • Graduation Requirement Policy: 3364-81-04-013-05 (PDF)
  • Academic Progress Committee, College of Medicine, MD Program Policy:3364-81-04-036 (PDF)
  • College of Medicine and Life Sciences: Disciplinary Action, Due Process, and Appeals for MD Students Policy: 3364-81-04-017-01 (PDF)
  • Medical Student Grading, Academic Promotion, Re-examination, Remediation, Dismissal, Due Process, and Appeals Policy: 3364-81-04-013-02 (PDF)
  • Appeal of Thread or Clerkship Final Grade Policy: 3364-81-013-04 (PDF)
  • Professionalism and Related Standards of Conduct for MD Students Policy: 3364-81-04-017-02 (PDF)
  • College of Medicine Grading Policy for Required Clinical Clerkships Policy: 3364-81-04-013-06 (PDF)
  • Alternative Sites of Instruction for the Required Clerkships Policy: 3364-81-04-009-00 (PDF)

Standard 10: Medical Student Selection, Assignment, and Progress

A medical school establishes and publishes admission requirements for potential applicants to the medical education program, and uses effective policies and procedures for medical student selection, enrollment, and assignment.

10.1 Premedical Education/Required Coursework

Through its requirements for admission, a medical school encourages potential applicants to the medical education program to acquire a broad undergraduate education that includes the study of the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, and confines its specific premedical course requirements to those deemed essential preparation for successful completion of its medical curriculum.

10.2 Final Authority of Admission Committee

The final responsibility for accepting students to a medical school rests with a formally constituted admission committee. The authority and composition of the committee and the rules for its operation, including voting privileges and the definition of a quorum, are specified in bylaws or other medical school policies. Faculty members constitute the majority of voting members at all meetings. The selection of individual medical students for admission is not influenced by any political or financial factors.

10.3 Policies Regarding Student Selection/Progress and Their Dissemination

The faculty of a medical school establish criteria for student selection and develop and implement effective policies and procedures regarding, and make decisions about, medical student application, selection, admission, assessment, promotion, graduation, and any disciplinary action. The medical school makes available to all interested parties its criteria, standards, policies, and procedures regarding these matters.

10.4 Characteristics of Accepted Applicants

A medical school selects applicants for admission who possess the intelligence, integrity, and personal and emotional characteristics necessary for them to become competent physicians.

Table 10.0-1: Applicants and Matriculants
Provide data for the indicated entering classes on the total number of initial applications received in the admissions office, completed applications, applicants interviewed, acceptances issued, and new medical students matriculated for the first year of the medical curriculum. Do not include first year students repeating the year.
 
  2015-16  2016-17  2017-18  2018-19  2019-20 
Initial Applications  4,216  3,679  4,115  3,644  5,411 
Completed Applications  2,718  2,003  2,477  2,324  3,415 
Applicants Interviewed  506  506  572  452  397 
Acceptances Issued  340  296  305  273  297 
New Students Matriculated  177  174  175  175  175 
Table 10.0-4: Medical School Enrollment 
Provide the total number of enrolled first-year medical students (include students repeating the academic year) and the total number of medical students enrolled at the school for the indicated academic years. For students in dual-degree programs, only include those participating in the medical curriculum. 
 
  2015-16  2016-17  2017-18  2018-19  2019-20 
First-Year  185  182  181  177  178 
Total Enrollment  720  711  709  717  713 

10.5 Technical Standards

A medical school develops and publishes technical standards for the admission, retention, and graduation of applicants or medical students in accordance with legal requirements.

10.6 Content of Informational Materials

A medical school's academic bulletin and other informational, advertising, and recruitment materials present a balanced and accurate representation of the mission and objectives of the medical education program, state the academic and other (e.g., immunization) requirements for the MD degree and all associated joint degree programs, provide the most recent academic calendar for each curricular option, and describe all required courses and clerkships offered by the medical education program.

10.7 Transfer Students

A medical school ensures that any student accepted for transfer or admission with advanced standing demonstrates academic achievements, completion of relevant prior coursework, and other relevant characteristics comparable to those of the medical students in the class that he or she would join. A medical school accepts a transfer medical student into the final year of a medical education program only in rare and extraordinary personal or educational circumstances.


10.8 Visiting Students

A medical school does all of the following:

  • Verifies the credentials of each visiting medical student  
  • Ensures that each visiting medical student demonstrates qualifications comparable to those of the medical students he or she would join in educational experiences 
  • Maintains a complete roster of visiting medical students  
  • Approves each visiting medical student’s assignments  
  • Provides a performance assessment for each visiting medical student 
  • Establishes health-related protocols for such visiting medical students 
  • Identifies the administrative office that fulfills each of these responsibilities

10.9 Student Assignment 

A medical school assumes ultimate responsibility for the selection and assignment of medical students to each location and/or parallel curriculum (i.e., track) and identifies the administrative office that fulfills this responsibility. A process exists whereby a medical student with an appropriate rationale can request an alternative assignment when circumstances allow for it.

Standard 11: Medical Student Academic Support,
Career Advising, and Educational Records

A medical school provides effective academic support and career advising to all medical students to assist them in achieving their career goals and the school's medical education program objectives. All medical students have the same rights and receive comparable services.

11.1 Academic Advising

A medical school has an effective system of academic advising in place for medical students that integrates the efforts of faculty members, course and clerkship directors, and student affairs staff with its counseling and tutorial services and ensures that medical students can obtain academic counseling from individuals who have no role in making assessment or promotion decisions about them.

11.2 Career Advising

A medical school has an effective career advising system in place that integrates the efforts of faculty members, clerkship directors, and student affairs staff to assist medical students in choosing elective courses, evaluating career options, and applying to residency programs.

11.3 Oversight of Extramural Electives

If a medical student at a medical school is permitted to take an elective under the auspices of another medical school, institution, or organization, a centralized system exists in the dean’s office at the home school to review the proposed extramural elective prior to approval and to ensure the return of a performance assessment of the student and an evaluation of the elective by the student. Information about such issues as the following are available, as appropriate, to the student and the medical school in order to inform the student’s and the school’s review of the experience prior to its approval:

  • Potential risks to the health and safety of patients, students, and the community 
  • The availability of emergency care 
  • The possibility of natural disasters, political instability, and exposure to disease 
  • The need for additional preparation prior to, support during, and follow-up after the elective 
  • The level and quality of supervision 
  • Any potential challenges to the code of medical ethics adopted by the home school 

11.4 Provision of MSPE

A medical school provides a Medical Student Performance Evaluation required for the residency application of a medical student only on or after October 1 of the student's final year of the medical education program.

11.5 Confidentiality of Student Educational Records

At a medical school, medical student educational records are confidential and available only to those members of the faculty and administration with a need to know, unless released by the student or as otherwise governed by laws concerning confidentiality.

11.6 Student Access to Educational Records

A medical school has policies and procedures in place that permit a medical student to review and to challenge his or her educational records, including the Medical Student Performance Evaluation, if he or she considers the information contained therein to be inaccurate, misleading, or inappropriate.

Standard 12: Medical Student Health Services, Personal Counseling, and Financial Aid Services

A medical school provides effective student services to all medical students to assist them in achieving the program’s goals for its students. All medical students have the same rights and receive comparable services.

12.1 Financial Aid / Debt Management Counseling / Student Educational Debt 

A medical school provides its medical students with effective financial aid and debt management counseling and has mechanisms in place to minimize the impact of direct educational expenses (i.e., tuition, fees, books, supplies) on medical student indebtedness.

12.2 Tuition Refund Policy

A medical school has clear policies for the refund of a medical student’s tuition, fees, and other allowable payments (e.g., payments made for health or disability insurance, parking, housing, and other similar services for which a student may no longer be eligible following withdrawal).

All students at the university including students in the MD program are covered by the Student Fees and Accounts policy 3364-40-19. Information is also available in the Student Financial Brochure.

12.3 Personal Counseling/Well-Being Programs 

A medical school has in place an effective system of personal counseling for its medical students that includes programs to promote their well-being and to facilitate their adjustment to the physical and emotional demands of medical education.

It is the policy of the college to assure students that those health professionals and faculty/staff who provide psychiatric/psychological/personal counseling or other sensitive medical and health-care services to medical students will have no involvement in the academic, professionalism, or disciplinary evaluation, promotion or dismissal of students receiving those services. This procedure is governed by the policy, Separation of Roles to Assure Confidentiality in the Provision of Health and Counseling Services to Medical Students and Absences of Conflict of Interest in Medical Student Evaluation, Promotion, and Dismissal, 3364-81-04-016-05. 

12.4 Student Access to Health Care Services 

A medical school provides its medical students with timely access to needed diagnostic, preventive, and therapeutic health services at sites in reasonable proximity to the locations of their required educational experiences and has policies and procedures in place that permit students to be excused from these experiences to seek needed care.

12.5 Non-Involvement of Providers of Student Health Services in Student Assessment/Location of Student Health Records

The health professionals who provide health services, including psychiatric/ psychological counseling, to a medical student have no involvement in the academic assessment or promotion of the medical student receiving those services, excluding exceptional circumstances. A medical school ensures that medical student health records are maintained in accordance with legal requirements for security, privacy, confidentiality, and accessibility.

Psychiatric and psychological services are provided to medical students by providers who have no role in grading or evaluating medical students in accordance with the Separation of Roles to Assure Confidentiality in the Provision of Health and Counseling Services to Medical Students and Absences of Conflict of Interest in Medical Student Evaluation, Promotion, and Dismissal policy 3364-81-04-016-05.


12.6 Student Health and Disability Insurance

A medical school ensures that health insurance and disability insurance are available to each medical student and that health insurance is also available to each medical student’s dependents.

The student health plan administered by Anthem Student Advantage provides access to nationwide providers and in the area surrounding the university, including The University of Toledo Medical Center, University Health Center on main campus and Student Health and Wellness Center on health science campus. For more information, review the Anthem Provider Network and the Anthem Student Advantage UToledo Student Health Plan Insurance Overview.

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Last Updated: 8/14/23