• General Overview
• On-Call Information
• Feed Forward Policy
• Mistreatment Policy

Cheryl McCartney, M.D.
Office of Med Education

Improvement Focused Feed Forward Policy
Clinical Rotations
Draft February 4, 2003

Our goal is that students should take responsibility for their own development and seek continuous improvement over the course of their careers. They should respond to constructive feedback from faculty and residents' evaluations of their clinical skills and professionalism.

1. End of clerkship/selective/elective evaluation for all students. Should include behavioral anchors for ranking knowledge, skills, attitudes, and professional behaviors. Our goal should be for faculty to always give a candid assessment so that students' progress can be followed over time.


2. Improvement focused feed forward for selected students
   
   • Deficit is thought to be remediable
   • Student acknowledges and has insight into the nature of the deficit
   • Student agrees that feed forward proceed
     
3. Procedure for feed forward
   
   • Clinical course directors who identify the deficit and believe that it should be fed forward will complete the attached form (to be drafted soon) as soon as possible
   
   
   • Form will be conveyed to the Educational Resources Coordinator in the Office of the Associate Dean for Student Affairs who will
     
     • Get written permission (or refusal: see below) from the student
     
     
     • Retain the form in her/his office only until the student graduates or leaves the School of Medicine.
     
     
     • Offer assistance to the student for remediation of the identified problems including academic assistance, identification of resources, study strategies.
     
     Feed forward will be shared only with the first future clinical site director (where possible who does not have a direct evaluative role) who will determine how best to help the student improve (e.g. select particular preceptor), but will not share feed forward with other faculty and residents unless specifically permitted by student
     
   • If subsequent clinical faculty note deficiencies, they may submit independent forms.
   
   
   • Educational Resources Coordinator will monitor the forms as indicators of academic progress. If two or more forms are received, she will alert the Associate Dean for Student Affairs who will review the situation to determine if additional assistance or intervention is warranted.
   
   
4. For students who decline permission to feed forward
   
• The signed refusal will be kept by the Educational Resources Coordinator in the Office of the Associate Dean for Student Affairs until student graduates or leaves the School of Medicine


• As always the student will be evaluated on performance


• If a student's academic difficulty results in review by the Student Promotions Committee, the forms will be available to be inspected as part of that review.


• Student's decision to refuse feed forward can be overridden if clinical faculty, in consultation with clerkship director and other senior faculty, determine that deficit represents a threat to patient safety. In cases of refusal, lack of acknowledgement, or lack of insight where patient or staff safety may be at risk, other procedures may be invoked, such as Honor Court investigation, Student Promotions Committee review, Administrative Leave Policy, Incident Report, or other appropriate University policy.