At the end of the clerkship, students are requested to
submit the names of attendings and senior residents they have worked with for
one week or more. This information is gathered by the clerkship coordinator
either at the last Thursday Teaching session or at time of the Neuroscience
evaluation. Attendings and senior residents are then notified by email and
requested to complete their evaluations within 2 weeks. Once all evaluations for
an individual student are received, their overall grade is computed from the
combination of points from the clinical evaluations and from the neuroscience
evaluation, as detailed in the evaluation
policy. The final evaluation is then delivered electronically to the
registrar. Most grades are finalized 2-4 weeks after the end of the clerkship
and available through the registrar.
When the student
receives their final
evaluation, each
category on the medical
school evaluation form
will have a ranking.
Please note: manually
computing points by
these final rankings
will not exactly match
the number of points
computed that determined
a student's grade. This
is due the fact that
evaluations from several
evaluators are weighted
and averaged together.
Thus, internally,
students may have a
different number of
points for a category
(e.g., 4.5, 5, 6), yet
still receive the same
ordinal ranking on the
medical school
evaluation form.
However, internally, the
total number of points
determines the student's
grade.
Grievance Policy
The final score is calculated based on an objective point
system from the combination of the clinical evaluations and neuroscience test. There is no grading on a curve and no pre-set determination
of how many students should receive each grading rank. Please note the clerkship
directors finalize the grade but do not decide the grade. All formative and
summative comments are from the evaluators. The clerkship directors do not alter
or change these comments. All evaluators are aware that the School of Medicine's
policy is to use the summative comments verbatim in the Dean's Letter of
Recommendation when applying for residency.
Once the final grade is
determined, it will not
be changed, unless there
is some type of unusual
clerical error. Points
from all evaluations are
determined
electronically; likewise
the final point tally is
determined
electronically. Thus, it
is very unlikely that
any error will occur in
this process.
Regarding the specific
comments written in the
Summative Portion of the
Evaluation, it is the
policy of the clerkship
that these comments will
not be changed, added to
or deleted from in any
situation, unless the
student believes:
•
The information is
factually incorrect
or
•
The student believes
they have been subjected
to discrimination of
some type
If
the student feels that
either of these two are
present, he/she should
notify the clerkship
director in writing that
they are contesting
their final grade and
the reasons they believe
the grade is in error,
inaccurate, or
represents a situation
where they were unfairly
treated because of
discrimination. The
clerkship directors
(Drs. Hart and Preston)
will then jointly meet
with the student and
investigate the
complaint. In the
unusual situation where
one of the clerkship
directors was also the
student's attending and
evaluator, another
senior department member
will be appointed in
their place. Once the
investigation is
complete, the student
will be notified in
writing of the
determination. A copy
will also be sent to the
Vice Dean for Medical
Education.
