Policy Number: AD.10.02.170508
Applies to: This policy applies to accepted applicants and current students of the College of Medicine MD program.
Date: 10/01/2024
1.0 Policy Statement
It is the policy of the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine that all students admitted to and enrolled in the College of Medicine MD program must meet and continue to meet throughout their enrollment the technical standards set forth in this policy.
1.1 Policy Introduction
The College of Medicine is committed to diversity and to equal educational opportunities for qualified students with disabilities and actively collaborates with students to determine the best means for ensuring accessibility in the educational program, including the use of technological aids to meet technical standards.
The technical standards are not intended to deter any student for whom reasonable accommodations will enable completion of the MD program. The program promotes confidential, respectful, and specialized support for disabilities. Current students are encouraged to disclose existing or emergent disabilities and to seek necessary accommodations.
2.0 Definitions
2.0.1 Technical Standards
The nonacademic criteria which are required for admission, retention, promotion, and graduation in the MD program and are deemed necessary for the acquisition of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors essential to becoming a proficient physician. The essential abilities and characteristics that comprise the technical standards are described in five categories:
- Observational skills
- Communication
- Intellectual- conceptual, integrative, and quantitative abilities
- Physical functioning
- Professionalism
2.0.1.1 Observational Skills
A candidate/student must have the capacity, with or without reasonable accommodation, to acquire medical and scientific knowledge through a variety of instructional formats, including, but not limited to, classroom instruction (instructor-led in large groups and student-led in small groups), laboratory instruction (including anatomy laboratory), simulated clinical experiences, team and collaborative activities (including presentations and peer teaching), individual study, and use of computer technology. A candidate/student must demonstrate ownership of learning for continual improvement.
2.01.2 Communication
A candidate/student is expected to have foundational communication skills at entry to medical school and to gain and demonstrate higher levels of competence as they progress through the curriculum. This includes the ability to communicate effectively and sensitively with other students, faculty, patients, families and healthcare providers from different social and cultural backgrounds, varying degrees and types of pathological conditions, and varying personalities. With appropriate training, and with or without reasonable accommodation, a student must:
- Exhibit interpersonal and communication skills necessary to accurately evaluate patient needs to enable effective caregiving of patients.
- Gather a complete medical history which includes the ability to communicate and interact with patients, families, caregivers, and medical records in an effective manner in order to elicit information, assess non-verbal communication, describe changes in mood, activity, and posture; and work effectively with a patient’s interpreter when needed.
- Be able to clearly communicate and record medical information in an accurate, succinct, comprehensive, and timely manner to support patient care across interprofessional health care teams.
- Utilize effective communication for providing appropriate patient counseling and instruction to patients.
- Communicate effectively and efficiently in English with other health care professionals in a variety of patient settings.
2.0.1.3 Intellectual-Conceptual, Integrative and Quantitative Abilities
A candidate/student, with or without reasonable accommodation, must effectively interpret, synthesize, and evaluate information as required to function within a medical school curriculum, including, but not limited to, the ability to interpret the three-dimensional, spatial relationships of structures; synthesize information in person and via technology; interpret causal relationships to arrive at conclusions based on evidence or available information; formulate a hypothesis, investigate possible outcomes, and express appropriate conclusions. A candidate/student must correctly interpret diagnostic representations of physiologic data.
As they progress through the curriculum a student must be able to integrate knowledge obtained through patient history, physical examination, and diagnostic investigations, to form an accurate, comprehensive assessment of a patient, using sound clinical judgment to inform patient care and health promotion, in emergency and non-emergency situations. They must be able to make timely, prudent, informed, and defensible decisions in the best interests of patients.
2.0.1.4 Physical Functioning
A candidate/student must have the capacity to access and function within clinical environments, including the ability to travel to required clinical experiences, which in some cases may be remote.
After a reasonable period of training, students must have the capacity, with or without reasonable accommodation to perform all medical, diagnostic, and surgical procedures considered essential for the area of practice, including physical examinations and diagnostic maneuvers. Indicators include but are not limited to the following examples:
- Ability to respond to emergent or urgent situations in a timely manner and provide general and emergency care.
- Obtain information from a complete physical examination.
- Perform diagnostic and therapeutic invasive procedures.
- Complete timed demonstrations of skills.
- Manipulate equipment and instruments to perform basic laboratory tests and procedures as required to attain curricular goals.
- Adhere to universal precaution measures and meet safety standards applicable to inpatient and outpatient settings and other clinical activities.
2.0.1.5 Professionalism
A candidate/student must be able to fulfill the professionalism and self-awareness expectations described in the student handbook. This requires that a student:
- Exhibit integrity, honesty, and, with adequate training, understand and apply appropriate standards of medical ethics.
- Demonstrate compassion, empathy, altruism, responsibility, dedication, fairness, and concern for self and others.
- Demonstrate emotional intelligence and self-awareness, including sound decision- making, recognition of personal limitations, and an awareness of the need to care for oneself.
- Exhibit cultural humility (respect for others’ beliefs, assumptions, and values) and interact with patients and their families, health care professionals, colleagues, faculty and staff in a courteous, professional and respectful manner that is shaped by the context in which one interacts.
- Accept responsibility for learning and contribute to collaborative, constructive learning environments, accept constructive feedback from others and take personal responsibility for making appropriate positive changes.
- Exhibit the ability to handle stress effectively, including exercising good judgement and adapting to sudden or unpredictable changes.
3.0 Responsibilities
- Undergraduate Medical Education Committee
- Office of Educational Affairs
4.0 Procedures
Attestation
Accepted applicants are asked to attest to the following statement as part of their acceptance packet: As an accepted applicant to the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University, I attest that I have read all pages of the Technical Standards policy, that I understand its contents, that I will abide by the policies expressed therein, and that I may be dismissed from the program should I fail to demonstrate all of the Technical Standards with or without reasonable accommodations and reasonable levels of academic support.
Students will then attest on at least an annual basis following matriculation.
Accommodations
Students are encouraged to disclose disabilities and make a confidential request for accommodations to support successful fulfillment of technical standards for completion of the MD program. The process for requesting accommodations is available on the Access Resources page of the Student Affairs WSU Health Sciences Spokane website.
Students are responsible for requesting accommodations by submitting an application to Access Services and for providing the appropriate, required documentation of the disability in a timely manner. It is recommended that students begin this process once admission is confirmed at WSU Spokane and check with the Access Services about requirements and timelines for reapplying for accommodations. Students with a newly diagnosed permanent or temporary disability requiring accommodation should contact Access Services as soon as possible.
After an accommodations plan is developed with the Access Services, faculty with instructional responsibility for the students’ courses will review the accommodation request. Conversations between these faculty and the student will be used to discuss how to best implement the requested accommodations in the classroom, laboratory, and/or clinical spaces. Reasonable accommodations are designed to effectively meet disability-related needs of qualified students, while not fundamentally or substantially altering the College of Medicine’s programs or standards.
The agreed upon accommodations will be implemented by the office of Educational Affairs in conjunction with the appropriate faculty. Students can contact the Access Services at any time for additional support with the accommodations process or to file a complaint regarding the process.
5.0 Related Policies
Student Promotion, Dismissal, and Graduate policy.
6.0 Key Search Words
Technical, standards, disability, accommodations.
7.0 Revision History
Original Approval: 5/9/2016
Policy Number: AD.10.02.160509, AD.10.02.170508
Review/Revision: 5/8/2017, 4/24/2020, 10/01/2027