VCOM College Catalog and Student Handbook

Educational Conflicts of Interest and Recusal

VCOM is committed to ensuring that students are assessed and promoted by faculty members, fellows, residents, other allied health professionals, or committee members whose primary interest is the student’s educational development. This policy sets forth the process for avoiding potential conflicts of interest by ensuring that any faculty member, fellow, resident, or committee member with a possible conflict of interest recuses themselves from participation in any the assessment and promotion process where a conflict may exist.

Conflicts of interest include but are not limited to the following:

• Current or past family relationship with the student, such as that of a current or former significant other, partner, spouse, child, sibling, or parent; • Current or past social relationship with the student that extends beyond a professional acquaintance or ordinary faculty/student activity relationships; • Private financial interest in the outcome of the decision related to the student in question; • Has provided health services to the student; • Awareness of any prejudice, pro or con, that would impair their judgment of the student in question; • Believes their recusal is necessary to preserve the integrity of the review process.

Health professionals providing health services to students, through a physician-patient relationship, must recuse him/herself from the academic assessment or promotion of the student receiving those services.

If a faculty member, fellow, resident, or other allied health professional is assigned to a role in which they will assess a student with whom they have previously provided health care services including psychological counseling, the faculty member, fellow, or resident must recuse themselves by notifying (without breaching confidentiality) the Associate Dean for Medical Education (for OMS 1 and OMS 2 students) or the Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs (for OMS 3 and OMS 4 students). In the case of a conflict involving an OMS 1 or OMS 2 student, grading for that student will be conducted by another faculty member or by the Associate Dean for Medical Education. In the case of a conflict involving an OMS 3 or OMS 4 student, the student will be reassigned to a rotation with another faculty member. In event that a faculty member, fellow, resident, or other allied health professional has not already recused themselves from assessment duties and a student is assigned to an educational environment in which the faculty member, fellow, or resident assigned to assess the student has previously provided health care services to the student, the student must advise (without breaching confidentiality) the Associate Dean for Medical Education (for OMS 1 and OMS 2 students) or the Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs (for OMS 3 and OMS 4 students) and the student will be re-assigned or grading will be conducted by another faculty member.

VCOM’s Mental Health Counselors may not assess students or make decisions about a student’s advancement, graduation, or dismissal.

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