Policy:
The CC will develop, implement and monitor policies related to the amount of time students spend in required activities, including the total required hours spent in clinical and educational activities during clinical clerkships. The CC will review guidelines regarding the requirements for adequacy of clinical experience in each required clerkship.
Work Load: Basic Sciences
To ensure enough preparation time for students, estimated total workload for each course block in the pre-clerkship curriculum should not exceed 60 hours per week.
- Total workload hours include all scheduled in-class activities, required out-of-class activities, and an estimate of the time needed to achieve learning goals each week and on exams.
- In-class scheduled activities include: lecture, large group, patient interviews, small group discussions, review sessions, labs, health systems improvement project time, preceptorships, work-place learning, and exams.
- Out-of-class required activities include: assigned reading to prepare for in-class sessions, online lessons, other independent modules, and weekly Checkpoints.
- The expected overall workload per week should aim to be reasonable, providing time to fully engage in a challenging curriculum and time of learning, while also recognizing personal health needs.
- The overall workload per week, including all activities across all elements, should be calculable based on a tally of scheduled in-class activities, required out-of-class activities, and an estimate of the independent preparation/study time necessary to master the learning requirements each week.
- All scheduled and required activities must consider the fact that fatigue impairs learning, and time for self-directed learning and study is critical for learning.
Faculty leadership of each course have responsibility for monitoring workload and ensuring that across all course elements their workload is in alignment with the policy. (Subject to change)
Basic science student attendance policies
Attendance at classes held on/off campus and all small group sessions are mandatory.
Students are encouraged to attend all of their classes. Attendance records are kept by the School and are released to licensing authorities or government bodies if requested. It is mandatory that an attendance level of at least 90% is maintained as some states may request this information prior to offering a license.
If the student’s attendance falls below 90% they will not be allowed to sit for the final examination and will obtain the grade of “F” for that class. They will have to repeat that class again next semester with 95% class attendance.
Attendance officially begins on the first day of Orientation. Students who fail to register on the First day and go to class the following days without registering will be marked absent. Students are responsible for maintaining their attendance requirement.
Students are responsible for making certain minimum attendance requirements are being met by keeping their own record. It is not the duty of the instructor, registrar or administration to inform a student when they are approaching the number of acceptable absences.
Students are allowed a maximum of 10 minutes of tardiness in a class. Most of the classes are of 90 minutes’ duration divided into two blocks with 15 minutes’ break in between. A student has to be present in both blocks. It will be left to the discretion of the faculty to lock the door or allow the student to enter the classroom after 10 minutes and be marked absent. Students are not allowed to sign for another student.
Personal computers are permitted in the lecture rooms if approved by the Faculty as long as the use is related to the lecture topics at hand and students using personal computers do not disturb their fellow students. To open the computers, permission must be granted first by the Faculty member in charge. Food and drinks are not permitted in the lecture rooms at any time. Video recording of classes is not permitted. Audio recording is permitted at the discretion of the instructor. Any student, who records and subsequently publishes material on the World Wide Web which is detrimental to the University or any of its Faculty, is subject to suspension/dismissal.
Faculty evaluations by students are required each semester for every Faculty member and are anonymous. This is the proper forum for any adverse comments and is reviewed and responded to by Administration.
Community Service Requirement
During their stay at XUSOM Aruba, students will be required to complete 32 hours of community service prior to the granting of the doctor of medicine (MD) degree.
Community service can be defined as anything that directly benefits the community of Aruba and has no direct benefit to the University. Examples: Visits to orphanages or retirement homes, health fairs, charity fund raisers.
Starting September 2015, any student entering XUSOM as a new or transfer student will be required to complete a total of 84 weeks of rotations while a registered XUSOM student.
Work Load: Clinical Sciences
Xavier University school of medicine we value the Mission of providing excellent educational opportunities for students. We strive to balance respect and safety for the students and the patient’s with the service and educational needs of the clinical sites. We understand the need for supportive work environment, and the need to provide for adequate contact time for the educational goals of rotation to be met.
Work hours are defined as that time spent with inpatient or outpatients doing notes, the filling-in of administrative duties and didactic teaching. This does not include preparing to go to work, commuting or study at home.
The policies are as outlined below.
- Total duty hours will be limited to not more than 80 hours per week this includes all direct patient care activities whether completed in house or at home
- Medical students must be provided with 24 hours off after every 7 days of duty.
- Continuous on-site duty including in house call cannot exceed 24 consecutive hours.
- The guidelines will be communicated to all students prior to their beginning rotations and will be known and agreed upon by those supervising the students including residents and attending physicians
- The supervisory staff including residents and attending’s will be appropriately trained, and we will treat students in such a manner as to promote a safe and conducive learning environment
Students will have access to our reporting form, by which they can report violations in writing, this can be done anonymously.
Clinical Sciences Attendance Policies
Students are expected to be in attendance one hundred percent (100%) of the time during all clinical rotations. Although the Clinical Attestation form and the Clinical Guidelines reinforce the requirement for 100% attendance in all clinical rotations, the fact is, emergent situations do come up. If for some reason a student is excused for a period of time by his/her preceptor, he/she needs to inform the Clinical Coordinator and send a letter approving the absence from the preceptor or attending along with the make-up dates listed. Otherwise, it will appear that the student has abandoned a rotation. This will also eliminate any issues with evaluations and the number of weeks being credited to the clerkship requirements.
Students failing to report to a clinical clerkship to which they have been assigned or taking an unauthorized absence during clerkship rotations may be dismissed from the clerkship and receive a failing grade.
A student will incur the cost of the full rotation for (a) failing to appear for the first day of a scheduled rotation or (b) canceling scheduled rotations after the Letter of Good Standing has been issued, and may be charged for the rotation.
Work Hours
The minimum number of hours of classes in a week is 30 hours. The classes are scheduled from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. Classes after 3:00 pm are rarely scheduled unless absolutely needed. Adequate time is given to the students for preparation leave before any exam (You can refer to the Examination Policy for preparation hours)
Policy Contact: Chair, Curriculum Committee
Last Updated: Dec 2021