Course and Clerkship Director Responsibilities

Rationale

Brody School of Medicine curriculum is delivered by faculty residing within multiple departments across the University. To ensure consistent delivery of quality content, all Course and Clerkship Directors are expected to comply with the established responsibilities of their leadership role within the curriculum.

Scope

Compliance with this procedure is mandatory for all Brody School of Medicine (BSOM) faculty members who are designated as a Course or Clerkship Director, Co-Director, Associate, or Assistant Director, within the medical education curriculum.

Definitions

ECC: Executive Curriculum Committee.

BSOM: Brody School of Medicine

OME: Office of Medical Education

CD: Course or Clerkship Director, and/or Assistant Director teaching in either the foundational or clinical phase of the BSOM curriculum

Department Chair: Leadership of the academic department in which the course/clerkship is housed

Foundational Phase: The first and second year of the BSOM curriculum

Clinical Phase: The third and fourth year of the BSOM curriculum

LCME: Liaison Committee on Medical Education; the accrediting body for the Brody School of Medicine

Responsibilities

This procedure requires collective supervision by all current department chairs supervising course and clerkship directors teaching within the curriculum in the BSOM curriculum. The CD’s are responsible for ensuring adherence to the responsibilities outlined in this procedure, and for informing their department chair and the Office of Medical Education of any issues that may impede full compliance with this procedure. The department chair works collaboratively with the course/clerkship director and the Office of Medical Education to support curricular delivery. The department chair is ultimately responsible for ensuring departmental compliance with the procedure.

Course/Clerkship Director and/or Assistant Director

Individuals leading courses or clerkships within the BSOM curriculum are responsible for ensuring leadership and delivery of their respective course or clerkship is consistent with the standards and expectations of the BSOM curriculum as outlined by the ECC.

Office of Medical Education

The Office of Medical Education will aid in the ongoing, continuous quality improvement of the curriculum, as well as act as a resource for all CD’s as it relates to course/clerkship content, creation, delivery, and outcomes.

Executive Curriculum Committee

The ECC is responsible for oversight and control of the BSOM curriculum. The ECC will monitor compliance from all CD’s with this procedure.

Procedures for Implementation

Acceptance of the position of CD confirms an individual’s agreement to carry out the following responsibilities:

Foundational Phase Course Directors

Creation of Objectives

• Use the institutional learning objectives, with respect to the requirements and recommendations of accreditation standards, to drive course specific objectives for review by the ECC.

  Ensure all course level objectives are linked to the appropriate institutional learning objective (ILO).

• Determine session level objectives and keywords for each session taught within the course.

  Course objectives, session level objectives, and keywords will be reviewed yearly by the CD and provided to the OME for curriculum mapping purposes and review by the ECC.

Management of Faculty within the Course

• Recruit and develop faculty for delivery, facilitating, and/or precepting educational content.
• Ensure all teaching faculty and students are aware and understand the course objectives, learning goals, relevance to the larger curriculum, and relevant policies.
• Delegate course duties to all assigned faculty in accordance with the Department Chair’s recommendation of % effort for the faculty member.
• Provide guidance, feedback, and oversight to assigned faculty on the preparation of course materials and andragogy such that course and institutional objectives are met, and consistency and the overall course design is maintained.
• Preview and approve all course materials submitted by the assigned faculty to ensure that the information to be covered is consistent with the overall course and institutional learning objectives and is relevant to both in-house course examinations and national examinations.
• Monitor the teaching effectiveness of assigned faculty and overall delivery of the course in an on-going manner (i.e., during the course) so that any mid-stream corrections can be made.
• Assist the OME with distribution of the Annual Course Faculty Evaluations by providing the correct roster of faculty to be evaluated.

Course Content: Creation and Delivery

• Assume responsibility for the delivery of the course including content, scheduling, assessment, organization, and course execution.
• Provide oversight of curricula and programs with a focus on development and implementation of course goals and session-specific objectives, linking stated objectives to educational strategies and learner assessment.
• Determine the temporal sequence of course topics in conjunction with other course directors so that the course topics/content are presented as best possible in coordination, both vertically and horizontally, with other courses.
• It is understood that there is no “perfect” curriculum so that the coordination should be negotiated among course directors in a common sense, collegial manner with the students’ best interest in mind.
• Ensure syllabi, course materials, schedules, assessment rosters, and other content are of high quality, current, posted, easily accessible, and reflect the educational objectives and content being delivered.
• Identify and evaluate materials that support the curriculum such as learning experiences, assignments, reading materials, videos, or online resources.
• Construct the course syllabus using the ECC approved Standardized Non-Clinical Course Syllabus Template. The syllabus must include a clear outline for the weighting of assessments and an overall course grading rubric.
  • CD’s must adhere to all grading schema as outlined within their distributed syllabus.
  • Course specific grading must follow all assessment policies outlined by ECC approved standard operating procedures.
• Provide the OME with your course roster to ensure that electronic examinations are available to all students registered for your course.
• Provide fair and effective formative and summative assessments.
• Assure that the assessments are prepared appropriately (either preparing them personally or delegating responsibility) and support student learning and development:
  • Link assessment questions to course content
  • Monitor reliability, validity and alignment of exams with learning objectives and course content.
  • CD’s will participate in the ongoing review and revision of assessment questions as required by the Assessment Systems: Continuous Quality Improvement of Assessments SOP.
  • CD’s will attend, or delegate faculty to attend, each secure review session and be available to answer student questions regarding assessment items.
  • Assure that examinations are scored appropriately (either scoring them personally or delegating responsibility).
• Provide oversight of the course site within the BSOM learning management system (LMS) to ensure content is complete and consistent with the ECC approved LCME Compliant LMS Template and made available in a timely fashion to students.
• Provide schedules and other information and direct the IT and departmental staff so that the LMS course website, ExamSoft platform, and video-recording platform are constructed and adequately maintained.
• Serve as a resource and communicate in a timely manner with students, administrative staff, and faculty.
• Promote a positive learning environment and collaborate with the course chair to address mistreatment and learning environment concerns.

Monitoring of Student Performance

• Post grades in a timely fashion adhering to university policy.
• Adhere to the Academic Achievement Policy guidelines for remediation and counseling of students experiencing academic difficulty.
• Ensure early identification of students in academic or personal difficulty and refer students to other appropriate units for assistance.
• Report grades to the Student Promotion and Review Committee and attend meetings if designated by the Chair.
• Identify appropriate remediation plans for students with academic difficulty.

Continuous Quality Improvement

• Be aware of and abide by all BSOM and ECC approved policies and procedures, and LCME standards.
• Participate in Annual Course Reviews with the OME, providing a reviewed copy of Course and Session Level Objectives, keywords, required course review document, and a Response to Student Evaluations to the Assistant Dean of OME.
• Modify existing or develop new curricula or methods of delivery based on needs, changing LCME requirements, and as charged by curriculum oversight bodies.
• Track, monitor, assess, and identify areas for improvement in the curriculum with the goal of continuous quality improvement or as dictated by the curriculum oversight bodies.
• With the assistance of the OME, evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum in achieving course learning outcomes.
• Assist the OME with customizing the End-of-Course Evaluation questionnaire for your course.
• Assist the OME with the 3-year Course Review for your course and serve on review committees for other courses and/or clerkships.
• Communicate with the year Curriculum Committee regarding any difficulties in fulfilling the above responsibilities.
• Request in writing from the Department Chair or Senior Associate Dean (for multi-departmental or non-departmental courses) the necessary resources to run the course effectively (e.g., budget, number of faculty, secretarial assistance, equipment, instructional materials, lab materials, etc.).
• Serve as a voting member of, attend monthly meetings for, and actively engage in the respective year Curriculum Committee for the year in which your course is taught (M1CC or M2CC) to improve and standardize elements of the curriculum, develop policies, provide input, ensure compliance with LCME standards, and disseminate best practices.
• Participate in all curriculum retreats, including the Foundational Phase Course Directors Retreat and the Curriculum in toto Retreat.
• Collaborate with the OME and the Office of Faculty Development to coordinate facilitator and faculty development needs.

Clinical Phase Clerkship Directors

Creation of Objectives

• Use the institutional learning objectives, with respect to the requirements and recommendations of accreditation standards, to drive clerkship specific objectives for review by the ECC.

  Ensure all clerkship level objectives are linked to the appropriate institutional learning objective (ILO).

• Determine session level objectives and keywords for each session taught within the course.

  Clerkship objectives, session level objectives, and keywords will be reviewed yearly by the CD and provided to the OME for curriculum mapping purposes and review by the ECC.

Management of Faculty and Educational Sites within the Clerkship

• Recruit and develop faculty for delivery, facilitating, and/or precepting educational content.
• Ensure all teaching faculty and students are aware and understand the course objectives, learning goals, relevance to the larger curriculum, and relevant policies.
• Ensure resident physicians who supervise or teach medical students understand the educational objectives of the clerkship and are prepared for their roles in teaching and evaluation.
• Ensure that student learning experiences throughout required components of the clerkship are supervised by members of the medical school’s faculty.
• Ensure comparable educational experiences and equivalent methods of evaluation across all teaching sites for the clerkship.
• Communicate the clerkship learning objectives, institutional objectives, and required clinical experiences to all faculty and staff with direct responsibilities for medical student education.
• Delegate educational duties to all assigned faculty in accordance with the Department Chair’s recommendation of % effort for the faculty member.
• Provide guidance, feedback, and oversight to assigned faculty on the preparation of course materials and andragogy such that clerkship and institutional objectives are met, and consistency and the overall course design is maintained.
• Preview and approve all materials submitted by the assigned faculty to ensure that the information to be covered is consistent with the overall course and institutional learning objectives and is relevant to assessments.
• Monitor the teaching effectiveness of assigned faculty and overall delivery of the course in an on-going manner (i.e., during the clerkship) so that any mid-stream corrections can be made.
• Assist the OME with distribution of the Annual Course Faculty Evaluations by providing the correct roster of faculty to be evaluated when appropriate.

Clerkship Content: Creation and Delivery

• Assume responsibility for the delivery of the clerkship including content, scheduling, assessment, organization, and course execution.
• Provide oversight of curricula and programs with a focus on development and implementation of course goals and session-specific objectives, linking stated objectives to educational strategies and learner assessment.
• Collaborate with other course and clerkship directors to ensure appropriate vertical and horizontal integration of content.
• Identify and evaluate materials that support the curriculum such as learning experiences, assignments, reading materials, videos, or online resources.
• Construct the clerkship syllabus using the ECC approved Standardized Clerkship Syllabus Template. The syllabus must include a clear outline for the weighting of assessments and overall course grading rubric.

  CD’s must adhere to all grading schema as outlined within their distributed syllabus.

• Ensure syllabi, course materials, schedules, assessment rosters, and other content are of high quality, current, posted, easily accessible, and reflect the educational objectives and content being delivered.
• Define and communicate clear and specific expectations, roles, and responsibilities for student involvement in patient care and learning activities.
• Determine and distribute schedules for clinical and learning activities related to the clerkship.
• Monitor and oversee student compliance with required clinical experiences, including required clinical conditions and procedures.

  CD’s must not assign a final grade for any student who has not logged all required clinical experiences for their clerkship, as defined by the Logging of Required Clinical Experiences SOP.

• Design an overall strategy for formative and summative assessment of individual students that are linked to educational goals and objectives.
• Participate in norming, grading, and feedback of required clinical assessments, including OSCEs and simulation.
• Provide oversight of the course site within the BSOM learning management system (LMS) to ensure content is complete and consistent with the ECC approved LCME Compliant LMS Template and made available in a timely fashion to students.
• Provide schedules and other information and direct the IT and departmental staff so that the LMS clerkship website is constructed and adequately maintained.
• Ensure that clerkship provides required proctors for all NBME shelf exams and institutional examinations/assessments.
• Serve as a resource and communicate in a timely manner with students, administrative staff, and faculty.
• Promote a positive learning environment and collaborate with your chair to address mistreatment and learning environment concerns.

Monitoring of Student Performance

• Meet with student mid-rotation to discuss the student’s required mid-rotation self-assessment and provide written formative feedback as outlined in the Assessment System: Formative Assessment and Feedback SOP
• Submit final grades for each student, including a narrative noting strengths and areas for improvement for cognitive and non-cognitive competencies, within 4 weeks of the completion of the clerkship as outlined in the Assessment System: Narrative Assessment SOP
• Document progress of all students. Adhere to the Academic Achievement Policy guidelines for remediation and counseling of students experiencing academic difficulty.
• Evaluate each student early enough in the clerkship to allow time for remediation of deficiencies and refer students to other appropriate units for assistance.
• Participate in the development of a remediation plan for students experiencing academic difficulty.
• Advise and mentor students in the residency selection and application process.
• Provide letters of recommendation/evaluation to students applying to residency.
• Represent the Course and/or Department at the Promotional and Review Committee.

Continuous Quality Improvement

• Be aware of and abide by all BSOM and ECC approved policies and procedures, and LCME standards.
• Ensure that examinations and assessment methods are current, valid, and reliable.
• Participate in Annual Clerkship Reviews with the OME, providing a reviewed copy of Course and Session Level Objectives, keywords, required course review documents, and a Response to Student Evaluations to the Associate Dean of the OME.
• Modify existing or develop new curricula or methods of delivery based on needs, changing LCME requirements, and as charged by curriculum oversight bodies.
• Track, monitor, assess, and identify areas for improvement in the curriculum with the goal of continuous quality improvement or as dictated by the curriculum oversight bodies.
• With the assistance of the OME, evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum in achieving learning outcomes.
• Assist the OME with customizing the End-of-Clerkship Evaluation questionnaire for your clerkship.
• Assist the OME with the 3-year Clerkship Review for your clerkship and serve on review committees for other courses and/or clerkships.
• Communicate with the Clinical Curriculum Committee regarding any difficulties in fulfilling the above responsibilities.
• Request in writing from the Department Chair or Senior Associate Dean (for multi-departmental or non-departmental courses) the necessary resources to run the clerkship effectively (e.g., budget, number of faculty, equipment, instructional materials, etc.).
• Serve as a voting member of, attend monthly meetings for, and actively engage in the Clinical Curriculum Committee to improve and standardize elements of the curriculum, develop policies, provide input, ensure compliance with LCME standards, and disseminate best practices.
• Participate in all curriculum retreats, including the Clinical Phase Clerkship Directors Retreat and the Curriculum in toto Retreat.
• Assist with development of the process to generate faculty and resident medical student teaching evaluations.
• Collaborate with the OME and the Office of Faculty Development to coordinate facilitator and faculty development needs.

Related Policies

3-Year Course/Clerkship Review Process
Assessment System – Continuous Quality Improvement of Assessment Process
Logging of Required Clinical Experiences Assessment System—Formative
Assessment and Feedback Assessment System—Narrative Assessment

Applicable Laws, Regulations & Standards

N/A