Medical Student Performance Sample Evaluation

Appendix B
Medical School Information Page

University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine is a statewide institution with campuses in Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada; and a partial rural campus in Elko, Nevada. Special programmatic emphases, strengths, mission/goal(s) of the medical school:

Goals for the M.D. Degree Program

At the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, the teaching faculty is responsible for creating and delivering the curriculum and assessing student progress towards achievement of these goals. Therefore, we:

• Provide our students with the scientific knowledge, clinical skills, and humanitarian values needed to contribute to the best possible care of patients.
• Teach and reinforce the skills necessary to evaluate and apply evidence-based medicine and personal experience to quality, patient-centered care.
• Offer students opportunities to practice and improve their clinical and interpersonal skills for the benefit of patient care, team interaction, and patient advocacy.
• Value and promote the skills of reflection, self-evaluation, and self-care. Our students must become lifelong learners in order to perform at the high level expected by their profession.
• Educate our students about disparities in healthcare systems and train them to be culturally sensitive to their patients' concerns.
• Provide students with opportunities for scholarship and leadership that will benefit people in Nevada, nationally, and internationally.
• Evaluate students' performance in a timely fashion to assure that they are meeting their educational goals.
• We, the faculty, dedicate ourselves to excellence in our professions in order to serve as positive role models to our students.

The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine provides early and consistent clinical experiences for students, beginning with the first week of the first year. Courses that integrate the basic science content and clinical care include Introduction to Patient Care (IPC) and Clinical Problem Solving (CPS).

Students in the third year of medical school are required to complete Clinical Reasoning in Medicine (CRIM), a twenty-four week clerkship that supplements the Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Family and Community Medicine Clerkships. The emphasis of the clerkship is outpatient management of common medical problems balanced with hospital experience. Students are involved with full time faculty, both generalists and sub-specialists throughout the clerkship.

Student evaluation measures include an Objective/Structured Clinical Examination, Shelf Exams for internal medicine, family medicine and pediatrics, preceptor evaluations, and faculty mentor evaluations.

Fourth year students are required to complete a four-week rural clinical elective.

Mission

• To educate medical students, medical residents and fellows, graduate students, other healthcare professionals and scientists.
• To develop professional values, biomedical and behavioral knowledge and skills through education, research, patient care, health outreach and community service.
• To be the leader in development of biomedical research and technology, and the application of clinical medicine in Nevada.

Diversity Statement

The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine recognizes that diversity promotes excellence in education, research and health care. Our school is an inclusive and engaged community and recognizes the added value that students, faculty and staff from different backgrounds bring to the educational experience. We strive to develop culturally competent graduates to care for the residents of Nevada and the nation.

Average Enrollment Length: 4 years

Academic Transcripts Guidelines Compliance: University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine complies with all AAMC/GSA guidelines for academic transcripts.

Evaluation System: University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine uses letter grades in a standard A, B, C format. Grades of 75% or below are considered marginal in Years I and II. The school converts to honors, high pass, pass, fail grades for the clinical years. Complete promotion and grading polices are available online.

Promotion policies for USMLE Step I and Step II, CK and CS: Each student must take and pass Step I prior to progression to the third year clerkships. USMLE Step II CK and CS must be taken before December 15 of Year IV of medical school. Passage of both exams is a requirement for students to graduate.

OSCEs : At the completion of the Clinical Reasoning in Medicine course (CRIM, a semester long didactic session accompanying the primary care clerkships) students are evaluated with an OSCE. The five cases (adult and pediatric) using Standardized Patients (SP) are based on basic clinical problems students will have seen during their clerkships. This exam is an integral part of the total grade for the CRIM course.

MSPE Process and Student Review: Medical students meet with the Associate Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs and/or the Director of Student Services. A draft of the MSPE is discussed and reviewed as a part of this meeting. Students have the option to view a final copy of the MSPE prior to the October 1 upload date, but this review is for typographical or factual errors only. Students are not permitted to request substantive changes to the MSPE.

The MSPE process assigns an evaluation level to each student based on a rubric which includes assessment of Step I and II scores; clerkship grades, leadership, research, service, and, if applicable, remediation. The evaluation levels are distinguished, outstanding, excellent, very good and good. Class of 2015

• __% of students were in the distinguished category;
• __% in the outstanding category;
• __% in the excellent category;
• __% in the very good category; and
• __% in the good category.

CURRICULUM: The primary goal of the school is to develop caring, responsible, skillful, and knowledgeable physicians capable of delivering high quality health care. Students are taught to be sensitive to the needs of their patients, their patients' families, and to their own needs as individuals and as physicians. The curriculum emphasizes interpersonal skills development that will heighten this sensitivity. We encourage students to develop self-directed learning skills of critical thinking, problem solving, self assessment, information appraisal, and to prepare for lifelong learning as a physician. It is expected that Nevada's new physicians will feel a responsibility not only to treat the ill but also to become leaders in the effort to promote and maintain health in the community in which they practice.

Year I and Year II: During the first two years of instruction, students are given the tools to learn the concepts, skills, and professional values essential to the practice of medicine, including the basic sciences: anatomy and embryology, behavioral sciences, biochemistry, genetics, histology, microbiology, neuroscience, pathology, physiology and cell biology, and pharmacology; the foundation skills in patient care necessary for entering the clinical years; and courses in problem solving for integrating basic and clinical sciences.

Years III and IV: A Transition Course is given immediately prior to the start of the third year to prepare students for their clinical rotations. Years three and four of medical school are spent in Reno, Las Vegas, and rural Nevada communities in clinical settings (in doctor's offices, the affiliated hospitals and university-operated ambulatory care centers). The School of Medicine currently requires that students complete the following clinical experiences: Clinical Reasoning in Medicine, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Surgery.

Description of the evaluation system used at the medical school:

Medical school requirements for successful completion of USMLE Step 1, 2 (check all that apply):
USMLE Step 1: USMLE Step 2:
X Required for promotion ❏ Required for promotion
X Required for graduation X Required for graduation
❏ Required, but not for promotion/graduation ❏ Required, but not for promotion/graduation
❏ Not required ❏ Not required

Medical school requirements for successful completion of Objective/Observed Structured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE) at medical school. OSCEs are used for (check all that apply):
❏ Completion of course
X Completion of clerkship
❏ Completion of third year
❏ Graduation
❏ Other:

Utilization of the course, clerkship, or elective director's narrative comments in composition of the MSPE. The narrative comments contained in the attached MSPE can best be described as (check one):
X Reported exactly as written
❏ Edited for length or grammar, but not for content
❏ Edited for content or included selectively

Utilization by the medical school of the AAMC "Guidelines for Medical Schools Regarding Academic Transcripts." This medical school is:
X Completely in compliance with Guidelines' recommendations
❏ Partially in compliance with Guidelines' recommendations
Exceptions:
❏ Not in compliance with Guidelines' recommendations

Description of the process by which the MSPE is composed at the medical school (including number of school personnel involved in composition of the MSPE).
The Associate Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs and the Director of Student Services conduct interviews with each graduating student, and compose the Evaluative Summary section for each student. The Coordinator of Student Records and Registration compiles all evaluative information in the MSPE for submission to ERAS. Students complete their own Unique Characteristics section, which is approved by the Associate Dean or Director prior to MSPE upload into ERAS.

Students are permitted to review the MSPE prior to its transmission:
X Yes
❏ No

Updated May 2014