Policies

Duty Hours:

1. Duty hours are limited to 80 hours per week averaged over the length of the rotation. This includes all clinical care, in-house call activities, and departmental and medical school-sponsored core educational sessions including rounds, lectures, and seminars. Duty hours do not include time spent at home reading or studying.
2. No duty shift (such as a call day) may exceed 24 hours, plus 3 hour sign out.
3. Students are required to have one 24 hour period off in seven days, averaged over the length of the rotation.
4. Students may not have more than 12 consecutive hours on duty in the Emergency Department.

Compliance:

Clerkship directors, course directors, and the Assistant Dean for Clinical Curriculum will monitor this policy for compliance. Students will be advised to report violations to this policy by one of several ways. The student may directly report the violation to the clerkship/elective course director. Students may also directly report the violation to the Assistant Dean for Clinical Curriculum. At the end of each clerkship and elective course, students will be asked about course compliance with the student duty hours policy on the course evaluation form. The responses to the course evaluation form will be anonymous, and they will be reviewed by the Assistant Dean for Clinical Curriculum and the clerkship director. Additionally, students may anonymously report duty hour violations at any time through an anonymous on-line reporting system that will be reviewed by the Assistant Dean for Clinical Curriculum (link is also listed below).

If the duty hour violation is reported directly to the clerkship or course director, the course or clerkship director must investigate the report and attempt to resolve the situation. If the situation is not resolved, the student must report the violation to the Assistant Dean for Clinical Curriculum. The Assistant Dean will address these and any other reports of duty hour violations that were directly reported to him/her by meeting with the specific clerkship or course director.  The clerkship director will be required to submit a final report to the Assistant Dean for Clinical Curriculum and the Deputy Dean to summarize how the compliance issue was resolved.

ANONYMOUS REPORTING OF CLINICAL ROTATION DUTY HOURS VIOLATIONS

Financial Obligations

All students registering for classes at The CUNY School of Medicine assume financial liability for tuition and fees as set by The CUNY School of Medicine and approved by the University Board of Trustees to the terms and conditions as set forth in the Financial Obligations Agreement.

Students must meet financial obligations or classes may be de-registered.

To meet your financial obligation, students are required to meet one of the following criteria:

1. Make payment in full out-of-pocket by the due date.
2. Have enough financial aid awards to cover charges in full by the due date. (Grants/Loans/Scholarships).
3. Set up a payment plan with the Bursar’s Office for the full amount due by the due date.
4. If you are expecting your tuition to be funded by an outside third party, such as a scholarship or fellowship from an organization outside of City College, by your employer, or by a private loan, you must notify the Bursar and provide documentation before your bill due date to avoid class cancellation.
5. A combination of the above.

De-registration Policy

All students registered at The CUNY School of Medicine assume financial liability for tuition and fees as set by The CUNY School of Medicine and approved by the University Board of Trustees to the terms and conditions as set forth in the Financial Obligations Agreement. Students who do not meet their financial obligations by the payment due date are subject to the de-registration policy.

• Classes may be de-registered for any student who has not fulfilled his/her financial obligations after the due date.
• Students whose classes have been de-registered will be subject to a $25 non-refundable, non-negotiable re-registration fee upon re-registration.

***Students who have been given an extension to take the USLME Step 1 exam will not be de-registered due to non-payment.  Once the USLME Step 1 exam scores have been recorded, if approval is granted to continue in the Clerkship year, you must adhere to the Financial Obligations upon notification.

See Tuition Payment Options 

The school’s absence policy (see D. Additional School Polices, section 2) requires students to report all absences from mandatory activities prior to the absence unless that is not possible. Absences are to be reported to [email protected] and to all relevant course directors. 

The Associate Dean for Student Affairs categorizes and records absences as approved, unapproved or discretionary and informs course directors. The numbers of such absences are also maintained. Failure to report an absence from a mandatory class activity is considered a breach of professional behavior.

• Course directors are responsible for tracking attendance of students at mandatory sessions. They have to inform other faculty members in their course (i.e. preceptors) to let them know immediately if a student is absent from a mandatory session. Course directors will then confirm if the absence was reported and if it is considered approved, unapproved or mandatory. If it is an unapproved absence, either because it was not reported or was classified as such, the course director will reach out to the student to address this as soon as possible, preferably within the same day.
• If a student has more than one unapproved absence, the course director will complete and submit a professionalism documentation form to the Associate Dean for Student Affairs. The form requires a face to face meeting between the student and the course director, since the student has to complete his/her portion of the form and sign it.
• The course director will submit the completed professionalism documentation form to the Associate Dean of Student Affairs.

At the CUNY School of Medicine, we value the role of learners in the provision of excellent clinical care. We also embrace the educational principle of graded responsibility to maximally support learners in their development of clinical expertise. We believe that appropriate supervision is also critical to performing assessments of the learner and providing meaningful feedback.

Students of the CUNY School of Medicine must be appropriately supervised when participating in required or elective clinical activities.

1. Medical students may not provide care in an unsupervised fashion.
2. Supervisors must either hold an affiliate faculty appointment or be supervised in their teaching and assessment role by an individual who has an affiliate faculty appointment and may include physicians, residents, fellows, and other licensed health professional faculty supervising an activity within their scope of expertise or practice.
3. Students may be supervised at one of two broad levels as determined by the supervisor:
   • Direct observation: the supervisor is present with the student and the patient
   • Immediately available indirect supervision: the supervisor, while not in the presence of the student and/or patient, is immediately available to the learner and/or at the site of care to provide direct supervision
4. Determination of appropriate level of supervision is made by the supervisor, based on many factors, including:
   • Level of training of the student
   • Previous experience and skill of the student with the clinical activity and setting
   • Familiarity of the supervisor with the abilities of the student
   • Acuity of activity and level of risk to patient
5. Students may not perform procedures without direct supervision.

The Assistant Dean for Clinical Curriculum, and the Clerkship Directors or Site Directors, are responsible for adherence to this policy

ANONYMOUS REPORTING OF CLINICAL SUPERVISION POLICY VIOLATION

Student Handbook 

STUDENT PRIVACY: FAMILY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS AND PRIVACY ACT (FERPA)

Technical Standards

City College and CUNY Policies 

Mistreatment Policy

For occupational needlestick or blood/body fluid exposure at ANY CLINICAL SITE, students should follow these steps: 

• Stop what you are doing and ask someone to take over for you.
• Immediately wash exposed area thoroughly with soap and water. Splashes to mucous membranes (e.g., eyes, mouth) should be flushed vigorously with water. Needlestick sites should be cleaned with soap and water.
• Notify your immediate supervisor.
• Your supervisor should ask the patient to wait.
• The source patient, if available, is tested ASAP for all blood borne infectious diseases – HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis (RPR) – as per the site’s protocol.

For exposures that take place at the St. Barnabas Hospital Health System (SBHHS) facilities:

Monday-Friday from 7:30am-3:30pm: Report immediately to the SBHHS Occupational Health Services (OHS) 4422 Third Avenue, Bronx, NY (718) 960-6537 for a STAT dose of post exposure prophylaxis, risk assessment, work-up and post exposure plan.

All other hours, holidays, and weekends: Report immediately to SBHHS Emergency Department (ED) (4432 Third Avenue, Bronx, NY) for STAT dose of post exposure prophylaxis, risk assessment, and work-up.

• When you arrive, identify yourself as a CUNY School of Medicine student and that you have had an exposure and need to be seen immediately.

If the exposure occurs at a site outside of SBHHS facilities and that site does not have their own PEP (post exposure) meds and protocol:

Please report immediately to the SBHHS Emergency Department (ED) @ 4432 Third Avenue, Bronx, NY for STAT dose of post exposure prophylaxis, risk assessment, and work-up.

If you have any questions, call SBHHS at 718-960-9000 and ask to be connected to the Infectious Disease (ID) physician on-call.

When you arrive at the ED, immediately identify yourself as a CUNY School of Medicine  student and that you have had an exposure.

Exposure Follow-up:

• Students who have exposures at SBHHS facilities will have their medical follow up at Occupational Health Services (OHS) at SBHHS.
• Students who have exposures occurring at a side outside of SBHHS and are not following at that site’s Occupational Health Service (OHS) will have their medical follow up through the SBHHS Infectious Disease Clinic – SBHHS Ambulatory Care Center – 4th Floor, located at 4487 Third Avenue, Bronx.
• If a student has an infectious disease or is exposed to an infectious disease and must be monitored for a period of time, the occupational health service at the clinical site where a student is assigned, in conjunction with the course director for the course in which a student may require restricted activities, will determine whether any modifications to the student’s clinical duties are required to prevent transmission of infection to other patients or healthcare personnel.   
• Students who miss educational activities due to illness from occupational/environmental exposure will be granted approved absences as per the School’s attendance policy. Each case will be individually reviewed by the Office of Student Affairs to determine whether the student may be required to make up missed course time or clerkship sessions. As per the School’s attendance policy, the student may receive a grade of incomplete for a required clerkship if s/he exceeds the maximum allotted number of absences during the clerkship.