30000 - Medical Student Handbook | College of Medicine

Technical Standards for Admission,
Advancement, and Graduation

Policy 300.00

Policy Statement

The University of Vermont (UVM) Larner College of Medicine (LCOM) is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, and strives to attract and educate students who will constitute the population of healthcare professionals representative of the national population.

We demonstrate professionalism through our core values of integrity, accountability, compassion, altruism, and social responsibility and rely on cultural humility, kindness, and respect, to guide our daily interactions. LCOM understands the importance and value in educating all students without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, or gender identity or expression, as those terms are defined under applicable law. We actively collaborate with students, faculty, and staff to support a safe and inclusive environment. As such, LCOM provides confidential and specialized disability support services via the University of Vermont Student Accessibility Services Office (UVM SAS), and we encourage and support any student with or without a known disability to explore accommodation eligibility. LCOM Medical Student Handbook Policy 310.00 Support for Disabilities outlines LCOM’s procedures for exploring accommodation(s) eligibility and additional academic support services.

The Larner College of Medicine’s Technical Standards include essential academic and non-academic abilities, attributes, and characteristics in the areas of 1) intellectual-conceptual, integrative, and quantitative abilities; 2) observational skills; 3) communication (verbal and non-verbal; 4) motor function (gross and fine muscular movements, balance, and equilibrium); 5) emotional resilience; 6) behavioral and social skills; and 7) ethics and professionalism.

A medical school applicant or enrolled medical student must possess or be able to acquire these technical standards, with or without reasonable accommodation(s), to be admitted to, retained in, and graduated from our medical educational program.

Policy Elaboration

Earning a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree requires mastery of a coherent body of knowledge and skills as well as the ability to integrate, synthesize, and apply such knowledge and skills in a broad-based practice. The undifferentiated LCOM MD degree affirms any recipient holds the general knowledge and skills to function in a broad variety of clinical situations and the capacity to enter residency training and qualify for medical licensure. Medical students must acquire substantial competence in several areas throughout their medical education, including understanding and appreciating the principles and practices of several fields of basic medical science and clinical medicine, and have the essential abilities and characteristics to relate to patients, families, and other health care professionals compassionately and comprehensively.
Students must meet the following technical standards for admission, advancement, and graduation, with or without reasonable accommodation(s):
1. Intellectual-Conceptual, Integrative, and Quantitative Abilities
  1. Possess and demonstrate the analytical, conceptual, integrative, quantitative, and reasoning skills that are critical to assimilate and integrate large volumes of information from diverse sources.
  2. Apply the skills outlined above (2.1.1) in a timely manner to solve medical problems to deliver appropriate patient care.
  3. Comprehend, understand, and adapt to different educational environments and learning modalities.
  4. Learn across a variety of modalities applied throughout the LCOM curriculum, including but not limited to laboratory instruction, such as cadaver lab; physical demonstrations, small-group, team, and other collaborative activities; individual study; preparation and presentation of reports; and use of computer technology.
2. Observational Skills
  1. Ability to observe and participate in all activities requiring observation and processing of information.
  2. Possess and demonstrate skills required for perception and interpretation of visual, auditory, and tactile information, which are all required to assess a patient and evaluate findings accurately.
3. Communication (verbal and non-verbal)
  1. Communicate and transmit information effectively, efficiently, and sensitively with all members of the learning environment (patients, patients’ families, health care personnel, peers, colleagues, faculty, staff, and all other individuals).
  2. Interpret and accurately document both verbal and non-verbal communication from others.
  3. Communicate with, examine, and provide care for all patients, without discrimination or bias.
4. Motor Functioning (gross and fine muscular movements, balance, and equilibrium)
  1. Demonstrate the capacity to perform physical examination and diagnostic interventions on patients in accordance with accepted medical practice.
  2. Demonstrate sufficient motor movements required to provide general care to patients and to provide or direct the provision of emergency medical care.
5. Emotional Resilience
  1. Attend to personal wellbeing.
  2. Manage stressful and demanding workloads.
  3. Adapt to changing environments, display flexibility, and learn in the face of the uncertainty inherent to the clinical problems of many patient and clinical settings.
  4. Demonstrate the emotional abilities required for intellectual engagement, exercise of good judgment, personal accountability, prompt completion of all responsibilities necessary for the diagnosis and care of patients, and the development of mature, sensitive, and effective relationships with all members of the learning environment.
6. Behavioral and Social Skills
  1. Demonstrate ongoing motivation and engagement./li>
  2. Demonstrate a willingness to collaborate with patients, patients’ families, health care personnel, peers, colleagues, faculty, staff, and all other individuals.
7. Ethics and Professionalism
  1. Model professionalism and a professional demeanor, consistent with the Larner Professionalism Policy and the Appearance in a Healthcare Setting Policy.
  2. Display mature and respectful interactions with patients, patients’ families, health care personnel, peers, colleagues, faculty, staff, and all other individuals.
  3. Consistently appreciate and preserve patient confidentiality.
  4. Free from impairment of substance in all academic and clinical environments.
  5. Abide by local, state, and federal laws, as well as all UVM and LCOM policies.
  6. After matriculation, students must immediately notify the Associate/Assistant Dean for Students of any conviction for a felony offense, misdemeanor offense, or findings from an institutional investigation that were not addressed during the application process.
  7. Maintain and display ethical and moral behaviors commensurate with the role of a physician in all interactions with patients, patients’ families, health care personnel, peers, colleagues, faculty, staff, and all other individuals.
  8. Understand the legal and ethical aspects of the practice of medicine and function within the law and ethical standards of the medical profession.