I. POLICY
New York Medical College’s (NYMC) School of Medicine (SOM) values diversity and strives to reflect the breadth of backgrounds and diversity of the communities we serve. NYMC-SOM enrolls and supports qualified students of any race, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, marital status or other protected class. All students are entitled to the same rights, privileges, and equal access to all programs and activities made available to students in the SOM.
Candidates considered for admission and students considered for promotion and graduation, including visiting and transfer students, must demonstrate core competencies, including achievement of academic milestones and completion of required coursework with or without reasonable accommodations. A complete list of graduation competencies is appended. These competencies fall into seven categories and are summarized below:
• Patient Care - The student must provide patient-centered care that is respectful, compassionate, appropriate, and effective for the treatment of health problems and the promotion of health.
• Medical Knowledge - The student must synthesize and apply knowledge of established and evolving biomedical, clinical, epidemiological, and social-behavioral sciences to patient care.
• Interpersonal and Communication Skills - The student must demonstrate interpersonal and communication skills that result in the effective exchange of information and collaboration with patients and families.
• Interprofessional Collaboration - The student must demonstrate the capacity to engage with an interprofessional team in a manner that optimizes safe, effective patient- and population centered care.
• Practice-Based Learning and Improvement - The student must demonstrate the capacity to evaluate one’s care of patients, to appraise and assimilate scientific evidence, and to continuously improve patient care based on constant assessment and life-long learning.
• Systems-Based Practice - The student must demonstrate an awareness of and responsiveness to the larger context and system of health care as well as the capacity to effectively utilize other resources in the system to provide optimal health care.
• Professionalism - The student must demonstrate a commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities in a responsive and compassionate manner as well as in adherence to ethical principles.
To best achieve these competencies, students must demonstrate skills within the following technical domains with or without reasonable accommodations. Should a candidate’s capacity to demonstrate any of the five domains listed below become compromised following matriculation, alternate means of demonstration of the functional equivalent may be necessary. As both medical education and the provision of patient care can be delivered in person and via digital platforms (e.g., remote learning, telemedicine), the skills described in the following technical domains pertain to both physical and electronic student experiences.
1. Perception/Observation Skills: The candidate must have the capacity to learn information presented, accurately observe patients, and assess diagnostic material both at a distance and close at hand. The candidate must have the capacity to observe and participate in activities, including but not limited to, observing demonstrations in the classroom, laboratory, and clinical settings as well as viewing microscopic and gross specimens of normal and pathological anatomy, tissue, and cultures. Observation necessitates the use of vision, hearing, touch, and smell - or the functional equivalent.
2. Communication Skills: The candidate must have the capacity to effectively communicate in oral and written form (paper or electronic) with patients, families, healthcare team members, faculty, and administrators. The candidate must have the capacity to demonstrate appropriate verbal and nonverbal communication and interpersonal skills to accurately elicit information and enable effective patient care. The candidate must also have the capacity to convey and collect information rapidly, accurately, and with clarity and sensitivity. Examples include, but are not limited to: taking and documenting a patient's history; assessing a patient’s mood, posture, and intellectual functions; teaching and learning from patients, faculty, and peers; delivering difficult information to patients with empathy; and presenting a case history, physical, and treatment plan.
3. Motor and Tactile Skills: The candidate must have the capacity to demonstrate fine and gross motor skills sufficient to perform quick and precise movements, operate medical instruments, manipulate patients' limbs and bodies, and maintain equilibrium and sustained forceful movements. In addition, the candidate must have the stamina sufficient to complete normal duty hours, courses, and clinical rotations within the time frame required by the school with or without reasonable accommodations. Examples of motor skills include, but are not limited to: performing venipuncture or other procedures to obtain diagnostic materials, anatomical dissections, and basic and advanced cardiac life support.
4. Intellectual, Conceptual, and Cognitive Skills: The candidate must have the capacity to demonstrate conceptual, integrative, and quantitative skills sufficient to learn, teach, create, analyze, synthesize, extrapolate, make objective and subjective judgments, solve problems, organize, and implement plans. Examples include but are not limited to: performing statistical analysis of data; calculating dietary requirements; applying critical thinking to develop a clinical treatment plan; performing satisfactorily on all exams and reading, written, and digital/electronic assignments; and demonstrating the capacity to understand abstract concepts and three-dimensional spatial relationships between anatomical structures. When these skills are assessed in an examination format, students who qualify will be permitted to utilize reasonable accommodations to demonstrate competency.
5. Behavioral Attributes, Social Skills and Professional Expectations: The candidate must have the capacity to behave in an ethical, professional, and trustworthy manner with honesty, integrity, and accountability. Examples include, but are not limited to: adapting to changes in required learning activities, work environments, and teams; prioritizing tasks and maximizing productivity to achieve multiple educational, administrative, and patient care goals in a timely fashion; developing mature, sensitive, professional, responsible, and effective relationships with others; maintaining appropriate and timely lines of communication with patients, peers, supervisors, faculty, and staff; demonstrating cultural sensitivity and responsiveness to a diverse patient population and healthcare workforce; respecting patient privacy and autonomy; accepting feedback and responding with appropriate modification of behavior; and functioning proficiently in the face of uncertainties while demonstrating appropriate self-care.
While an accommodation plan can be made for qualified students with disabilities, the candidate or student, as applicable, must have the capacity to perform in a reasonably independent manner and complete the technical standards of the entire curriculum of required courses, clerkships, and electives. The use of a trained intermediary to substitute for any of the functions above is not permitted because the candidate's judgment would be mediated by someone else's power of observation, selection, and interpretation. In the event that a candidate requires accommodations at any point during the admissions process or after a student is enrolled in the SOM, they should contact The Office of Academic Support
II. EQUAL ACCESS TO NYMC-SOM
NYMC-SOM will consider for admission and ongoing enrollment any qualified candidate who meets the criteria to perform the skills listed in this document, with or without reasonable accommodations, consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act as amended (1990) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973). Otherwise qualified individuals will not be excluded from admission, ongoing enrollment, or participation in the SOM MD program based solely on their status as a person with a disability.
IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURES
The NYMC-SOM is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to candidates and students who disclose documented disabilities to the designated officer within the Office of Academic Support. Applicants and admitted students who have an existing or acquired disability and require reasonable accommodation to participate in and complete the medical education curriculum should initiate discussions with the Office of Academic Support during the application process (for assistance with the application), as soon as the offer of admission is received and accepted, and/or as soon as the disability is identified. Medical documentation remains confidential throughout the process of consultation, registration, and coordination of approved accommodations.
III. PURPOSE
The purpose of this policy is to define the technical standards for admission, ongoing enrollment, and graduation at NYMC-SOM.
IV. SCOPE
This policy applies to all medical students and MD Program Candidates in the NYMC-SOM.
V. DEFINITIONS
A reasonable accommodation is a modification or adjustment to an instructional activity, facility, program, or service that enables a qualified student with a disability to have an equal educational opportunity.
A disability is categorized as a physiological or mental disorder that substantially limits an individual in a major life activity.
A candidate is an individual considered for SOM MD program admission, promotion, and graduation, including visiting and transfer students.
VI. POLICY AUTHOR(S)
• Office of Admissions, SOM
• Office of Student Affairs, SOM
• Office of Academic Support
• Office of Undergraduate Medical Education, SOM
VII. RELATED POLICIES
• Policy on Student Accommodations and Accessibility
• Statement of Non-Discrimination
• School of Medicine Diversity Policy
• Student Selection Policy
VIII. APPENDIX
• SOM MD Program Graduation Competencies
IX. REFERENCES
• LCME Element 3.3: Diversity/Pipeline Programs and Partnerships: A medical school has effective policies and practices in place, and engages in ongoing, systematic, and focused recruitment and retention activities, to achieve mission-appropriate diversity outcomes among its students, faculty, senior administrative staff, and other relevant members of its academic community. These activities include the use of programs and/or partnerships aimed at achieving diversity among qualified applicants for medical school admission and the evaluation of program and partnership outcomes.
• LCME Element 3.4: Anti-Discrimination Policy: A medical school has a policy in place to ensure that it does not discriminate on the basis of age, disability, gender identity, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or any basis protected by federal law.
• LCME Element 10.5: Technical Standards: A medical school develops and publishes technical standards for the admission, retention, and graduation of applicants or medical students with disabilities, in accordance with legal requirements.
• Middle States Standard IV: Support of the Student Experience: Across all educational experiences, settings, levels, and instructional modalities, the institution recruits and admits students whose interests, abilities, experiences, and goals are congruent with its mission and educational offerings. The institution commits to student retention, persistence, completion, and success through a coherent and effective support system sustained by qualified professionals, which enhances the quality of the learning environment, contributes to the educational experience, and fosters student success.
• Rastogi, S., 2021. Establishing Equity in Medical Education—Supporting Clinical Trainees with Disabilities. The New England Journal of Medicine.
• Haque, O.S., Stein, M.A. and Marvit, A., 2021. Physician, Heal Thy Double Stigma-Doctors with Mental Illness and Structural Barriers to Disclosure. The New England Journal of Medicine, 384(10), pp.888-891.
X. EFFECTIVE DATE
This policy is effective immediately.
XII. POLICY MANAGEMENT
• Responsible Offices: SOM Office of Admissions, SOM Office of Student Affairs
• Responsible Executive: Dean of the School of Medicine
• Responsible Officers: Senior Associate Dean of Admissions, SOM Senior Associate Dean of Student Affairs
