Creighton University

1. Students may select courses from four sources: 
   a. The Creighton University School of Medicine Electives Handbook
   b. The catalog of elective courses at other LCME-accredited Medical Schools.
   c. Available externships at ACGME-accredited residency programs that are not affiliated with a medical school. 
   d. Courses required during active duty service for those students with Military obligations.
2. Departments who wish to establish new electives for 4th year students must submit the proposed course goals and objectives to the Educational Policy Committee for approval prior to a student starting the elective.  New course proposals should be submitted using a template provided by the Office of Medical Education.
3. All Creighton electives must be directed by a School of Medicine faculty member.  If the proposed Course Director is not a Creighton faculty member, a faculty appointment must be obtained prior to students starting the rotation.  All newly appointed faculty must become familiar with the goals and objectives of the Medical Education Program found in The Medical Curriculum.

1. Instruction of Creighton University medical students must be performed under the supervision of Creighton faculty.  Thus, all Creighton Medical School courses are directed by Creighton faculty.  The goals and objectives and teaching methods of all externships are approved by the sponsoring Creighton department.
2. Instructors in the course and clerkship do not need Creighton faculty appointments; however, the goals, objectives and methods of such instruction are determined by the course director.  
3. Residents who supervise or teach medical students, as well as graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the biomedical sciences who serve as teachers or teaching assistants, must be familiar with the educational objectives of the course or clerkship and be prepared for their roles in teaching and evaluation.
4. The objectives of the educational program must be made known to all medical students and to the faculty, residents, and others with direct responsibilities for medical student education.
    

ED-24 Residents who supervise or teach medical students, as well as graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the biomedical sciences who serve as teachers or teaching assistants, must be familiar with the educational objectives of the course or clerkship and be prepared for their roles in teaching and evaluation.

ED-25 Supervision of student learning experiences must be provided throughout required clerkships by members of the medical school’s faculty.

ED-26 The medical school faculty must establish a system for the evaluation of student achievement throughout medical school that employs a variety of measures of knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes.

Evaluation of student performance should measure not only retention of factual knowledge, but also development of the skills, behaviors, and attitudes needed in subsequent medical training and practice, and the ability to use data appropriately for solving problems commonly encountered in medical practice. The LCME urges schools to develop a system of evaluation that fosters self initiated learning by students and disapproves of the use of frequent tests which condition students to memorize details for short-term retention only.

ED-27 There must be ongoing assessment that assures students have acquired and can demonstrate on direct observation the core clinical skills, behaviors, and attitudes that have been specified in the school’s educational objectives.

ED-28 There must be evaluation of problem solving, clinical reasoning, and communication skills.

ED-29 The faculty of each discipline should set the standards of achievement in that discipline.

ED-30 The directors of all courses and clerkships must design and implement a system of formative and summative evaluation of student achievement in each course and clerkship.

Those directly responsible for the evaluation of student performance should understand the uses and limitations of various test formats, the purposes and benefits of criterion-referenced vs. norm-referenced grading, reliability and validity issues, formative vs. summative assessment, etc. In addition, the chief academic officer, curriculum leaders, and faculty should understand, or have access to individuals who are knowledgeable about, methods for measuring student performance. The school should provide opportunities for faculty members to develop their skills in such methods. An important element of the system of evaluation should be to ensure the timeliness with which students are informed about their final performance in the course/clerkship. In general, final grades should be available within four to six weeks of the end of a course/clerkship.

ED-31 Each student should be evaluated early enough during a unit of study to allow time for remediation.

It is expected that courses and clerkships provide students with formal feedback during the experience so that they may understand and remediate their deficiencies. Courses or clerkships that are short in duration (less than 4 weeks) may not have sufficient time to provide structured formative evaluation, but should provide alternate means (such as self testing or teacher consultation) that will allow students to measure their progress in learning.

ED-32 Narrative descriptions of student performance and of non-cognitive achievement should be included as part of evaluations in all required courses and clerkships where teacher-student interaction permits this form of assessment.