Attendance, Absence, & Duty Hours Policy

All Phases of Curriculum:

Students may be excused from required academic activities for health-related reasons, significant personal issues or events, required public duty or as an invited presenter at a professional meeting.  In all instances, a student must request an excused absence via the VMED Excused Absence Request System for review by their College Dean as soon as the potential need for absence arises.

If any SOM faculty voice concern that a student’s absences have adversely affected their education or the education of others in an affiliated group, the faculty may submit a Professionalism Concern Card regarding that student to their College Dean.

If a student misses more than two consecutive days due to illness, in addition to receiving an excused absence from their College Dean via the VMED Excused Absence Request System, the student will also need to seek medical evaluation from the Department of Student Health and Wellness in Charlottesville, student health services at Inova or other licensed healthcare provider. Students with a flu-like illness should first call the appropriate student health service or provider to determine if an in person or a virtual appointment is needed. Students with contagious diseases may be furloughed by Student Health and Wellness, UVA Health System, or student health services at Inova. Duration of furlough and conditions of return to educational activities will be determined by the respective student health service.

Phase 1 Curriculum:

Attendance is mandatory for the following required academic activities:

• All sessions of Orientation, Cells to Society and Classrooms to Clinics
• All activities in which team accountability is required, including but not limited to: Team-Based Learning activities, lab sessions and Foundations of Clinical Medicine sessions
• All patient presentations, interviews and panel discussions

Failure to attend a required academic activity without an excused absence is a breach of professionalism and will result in a Professionalism Concern Card being submitted to the student’s College Dean.

Work Hour Expectations:

The total amount of in-class scheduled course work in Phase 1 is 24 hours per week.  Learning activities are scheduled from 8:10 am to 12:00 noon, Monday through Friday. Students are scheduled for Foundations of Clinical Medicine (FCM) small group sessions once a week from 1-5pm, Monday through Thursday.   Students also have both Patient Student Partnership responsibilities and Social Issues in Medicine community service responsibilities.  As established by the Curriculum Committee, medical students in the Phase 1 curriculum have an expectation of no more than 30 hours of assigned preparation outside of class time.

Delay of Summative Examinations:

 Summative examinations may be delayed only for illness or significant personal issues with advance approval of the student’s College Dean. If an urgent delay is requested after the exam opens, the College Dean on call should be contacted. If a delay is approved, a student forfeits the right to challenge examination items. It is the student’s responsibility to work with their College Dean and system leadership to arrange a time for examination make-up. No examination may be taken prior to the originally scheduled date and time.

Phase 2 and Phase 3 Curriculum:

Attendance

Students are required to attend all clinical duties and required activities in Phase 2 and 3 as scheduled by the course and clerkship directors.  Attendance at all Phase 2 clerkship orientations is required. Any absence, excused or unexcused, will preclude student participation in that clerkship until the orientation is completed.  Students are responsible for complying with all attendance information outlined in the Phase 3 handbook.

All excused absence requests must be submitted through the VMED Excused Absence Request System. It is also the student’s responsibility to notify their clinical teams and their immediate faculty supervisor prior to their expected shift, session or workday.  The clerkship or course director will determine how and when the student will make up missed time and activities.  More than two days of excused absences must be made up. Excessive absence from a Phase 3 elective, as determined by the course supervisor, may result in a decrease in credit earned and submission of a Professionalism Concern Card to the student’s College Dean.

No planned excused absences are allowed during the Phase 2 Clerkship Readiness Course or the Phase 3 required courses: Bedside to Community, Advanced Clinical Electives, Emergency Medicine, Critical Care Medicine and Intern Readiness.

For Phase 3 electives, students are allowed up to an average of one excused absence per week (or four days during a four-week rotation, two days during a two-week rotation) between October 1 and February 15 to participate in residency interviews. Students on Critical Care Medicine in rotations 10 and 11 and students on Emergency Medicine in rotations 10, 11 and 12 may request up to two excused absences to participate in residency interviews.

All absence requests, including for residency interviews, must be submitted in the VMED Excused Absence Request System.  A clinical supervisor verbally approving days off does not override the attendance policy, is not excused, and that type of request may be a professionalism concern.

Some Phase 3 electives do not allow planned absences or time off to interview. It is the student’s responsibility to review the elective course description or discuss with the course director in advance regarding allowance of absences. Even with an approved excused absence, the specific days missed must also be pre-approved by the course director and the attending on the service.

If more than two days are missed during an elective for any reasons (interview or another excused absence) the course director will work with the student to determine how and when make-up time will occur.  If missed time is not made up, adjustment to credit earned may occur.

Duty Hour Expectations:

Medical students rotating on clinical services (clerkships, required Phase 3 courses and electives) will mirror the duty hour limits for mid-level residents established by the ACGME Common Program Requirements.  Students will have a maximum of 80 hours of required clinical duties per week averaged over a four-week period, no more than 24 consecutive on-duty hours with at least eight hours off between shifts, and on average one day in seven free from all required clinical duties. Four additional hours for the handover of patients (no new patients) after 24 hours is allowed for feedback on clinical decisions and for continuity. Directors of clerkships, required Phase 3 courses, and electives are responsible for monitoring compliance to ensure that duty hours are adjusted as necessary.

Delay of Shelf Examinations:

All clerkship requirements must be completed prior to taking the shelf exam. A student will receive an “incomplete” grade until all clerkship requirements are completed.

Shelf examinations may be delayed only for illness or significant personal issues with advance approval of the student’s College Dean.  If a delay is approved, it is the student’s responsibility to work with their College Dean and the clerkship director to reschedule the shelf exam on an approved make-up date.

Questions:

Students with questions related to the attendance, absence or duty hours policy should contact their College Dean.

The Curriculum Committee has oversight and approval for this policy.

• Next scheduled review June 2029
• Revised May 2026
• Revised May 2023
• Revised August 2022
• Revised & Reaffirmed February 2022
• Revised & reaffirmed June 2021
• Administrative revision April 2021
• Revised & reaffirmed June 2019