Policy for Separation of Academic/Physician Roles in the Provision of Health Treatment

Policy Statement: Any school faculty or health professional who provides clinical care to a BU medical student for any health services, including mental health services, must have no involvement in the academic evaluation or promotion of the student.

Such faculty, staff, and health professionals may give lectures but may not lead small group discussions or serve as an adviser, course director, clinical supervisor, or member of promotions or appeals committees on issues involving such a student.

Faculty obligation: Faculty must avoid any involvement in the academic evaluation or promotion of any student for whom they have provided health services. A faculty member who determines that they will be involved in the academic evaluation or promotion of a student for whom they have provided health care must notify the course/clerkship director immediately and must recuse themselves from the academic evaluation or promotion of the student. The course/clerkship director must reassign the student to a new clinical site, remove the faculty member from any role in supervision and/or evaluation of the student, and assign the student to a new preceptor. Course or clerkship directors should not provide direct patient care to students for these reasons. All faculty serving in these roles are required to attest annually to Medical Educator Conflicts of Interest Policy as outlined in that policy.

Before completing an individual clinical student evaluation form, every faculty and resident must attest that they have not provided clinical care to the student. This attestation must be completed in order to submit any clinical evaluation or final grade of a student.

Student obligation: During the scheduling process, students must notify BUSM’s Registrar if the site where they receive health care precludes their assignment to a specific clinical site. Students must request assignment to a site different from where they received health care treatment.

A student who determines that a faculty/resident member who has provided health services may be involved in his/her evaluation must immediately notify the course/clerkship director to ensure that the faculty member is recused from the student’s academic evaluation or promotion or for the student to be reassigned.

[Approved by the BUSM Executive Committee on September 26, 2018]