VCOM Institutional Policy and Procedure Manual

VCOM Policy and Procedure

Policy #S012

Technical Requirements for Admission and Successful Completion of the Osteopathic Program and Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Policy Page 7 of 16 and to effectively and safely care for patients. This requires students to demonstrate careful and safe decision making at all times, to be free from addiction, to discriminate between legal and illegal behaviors, to make moral rather than immoral decisions, to make ethical rather than unethical decisions, and to demonstrate professional rather than unprofessional behaviors. Professional and ethical attributes are those expected of a physician by all of society and are Students must have the mental and emotional stability to be able to safely and effectively care for patients without medication known to adversely affect intellectual abilities and clinical judgment. Students must have the emotional stability and motivation to deliver patient care and to make emergent decisions at all times. The ability to adapt to changing environments and stressful situations and to display compassion and integrity, while maintaining the necessary intellectual capacity to care for patients is required. Applicants or students who have mental impairments that cannot be resolved with treatment and result in significant mental impairment that renders the student to be lacking in the required mental capacity to maintain safety, without substantial supervision, for patient care, are not eligible for admission or continued enrollment. The student must have cognitive, interpersonal and social capacity for the vocational effectiveness required for medical practice. VCOM considers impairment from addiction to be a serious mental illness. Impaired physicians from substance abuse have unpredictable incapacitation of mental judgement, alertness, and emotional stability, resulting in a risk to patients for receiving unsafe medical care. Substance abuse that effects mental capacity and reasoning are cause for not accepting and/or dismissing a student in order to protect patients. Students found to be using illegal or illicit drugs will be dismissed for unprofessional behavior. Any evidence of addiction to prescription, illicit, or illegal drugs will be considered a risk to patients and the student will be required to be evaluated immediately and be subject to any or all of the following: suspension, dismissal, or unplanned leave for treatment at the discretion of the Campus Dean. The college maintains the right to convene an Individual Assessment Committee to determine whether the applicant or student meets these technical standards and/or poses a potential danger to self or others. Such an evaluation may require an independent forensic evaluation of the student by a psychiatrist and other psychological health providers. Mental health capacity must be such that an emotional support animal is not needed in order to participate in the curriculum or provide medical care. VI. Professional and Ethical Attributes Students must demonstrate the capacity to make professional and ethical decisions expected of a medical professional at all times to be successful in the curriculum