Lauren Cobbs-Tarantola, M.D., M.Ed., Associate Dean for Student Affairs
Elizabeth Conser, M.D., Assistant Dean for Student Wellness and Advancement
David Trotter, Ph.D., Assistant Dean for Student Affairs

Allison Perrin, Ph.D., M.S, L.P.C., Director for Student Affairs and Student Wellness Programs

Kimberly Johnson, Associate Director for Student Affairs

Jennifer Acevedo, Program Manager for Years 1, 2, and 3

Raquel Smith, Section Supervisor

Ja’Net Shedd, Executive Associate to the Dean for Student Affairs
Emily Gifford, Senior Administrative Assistant

Location: 2B440 – (Main suite)

Mail Stop: 6222

Phone: 806-743-3005/806-743-6784

Fax: 806-743-4165

Web: http://www.ttuhsc.edu/som/StudentAffairs

Location: 2B420 – (Advising and Wellness)

Mail Stop: 6222

Phone: 806-743-3005/806-743-6784

Fax: 806-743-4165

Web: http://www.ttuhsc.edu/som/StudentAffairs

Medical Student Affairs

Mission Statement

The mission of the Office of Student Affairs on all campuses is to provide academic support and career guidance for medical students, and to do so in a supportive environment that enables students to have a positive experience at TTUHSC School of Medicine. The goal of this office is to assist all medical students with being successful and developing professional skills and personal relationships that will last a lifetime. As student advocates, the Student Affairs staff work to ensure that the rights of students are protected and that all students are treated fairly.

Code of Professional Conduct/Honor System

Upon matriculation into the School of Medicine, each student subscribes to the Medical Student Honor Code and the TTUHSC Code of Professional and Academic Conduct. The purpose of the Code of Professional and Academic Conduct is to emphasize in the medical school environment those qualities of integrity, self-discipline, and professional behavior that are essential to physicians. The TTUHSC Code protects the rights of the student who may be reported for academic dishonesty or for non-professional conduct. If charges are deemed valid, there is a hearing before a student-faculty committee which recommends to the Dean appropriate action. There is an appeal procedure to ensure due process, and the Dean makes a final decision based on the hearings and committee recommendations. A student handbook, which includes the detailed Codes, as well as other relevant policies and procedures, is made available to each student at matriculation. The handbook can also be found on the School of Medicine, Office of Student

Affairs website. (http://www.ttuhsc.edu/som/studentaffairs).

Standards for Curricular Completion

The School of Medicine faculty has developed minimum standards for entry into and progression through the medical curriculum. These standards provide guidance to achieve the Doctor of Medicine degree in preparation for licensure as a practicing physician and for postgraduate training. Throughout the medical education process, patient safety is of primary consideration.

Preparation of the Physician

The education of a physician includes the following phases:

1. A preparatory phase with at least 90 hours of credit in an accredited U.S. or Canadian college;

2. A rigorous professional education leading to the M.D. degree;

3. Postgraduate (residency) training; and

4. Lifelong continuing education after completion of residency training.

Unlike most professions, Medicine awards its formal degree midway through the education process, and the awarding of the degree certifies that the student has acquired a broad base of general knowledge and skills requisite for further training in postgraduate work. The process whereby the degree is gained prepares an individual to be a physician rather than a surgeon, psychiatrist, or other specialist. A common body of knowledge, skills, and behaviors thus underlies, and is necessary for, entry into specialized postgraduate training programs.

Medical education requires that the accumulation of scientific knowledge must be accompanied by the simultaneous acquisition of skills and professional attitudes and behaviors. It is through the care of patients that the physician learns the application of scientific knowledge and skills.

It is impossible to consider changes in medical education without considering their impact on patients, who are an integral part of the educational process. Faculties of schools of medicine have immediate responsibility to society to graduate the best possible physician. Admissions standards for medical school must be rigorous and exacting, and admissions must be extended only to those who are qualified to meet the performance standards of the profession.

Development of Medical Curriculum

The medical faculty is charged with devising a curriculum that allows the student to learn the fundamental principles of medicine, to acquire skills of critical judgment based on evidence and experience, and to develop an ability to use principles and skills wisely in solving problems of health and disease. In designing the curriculum, the faculty must introduce current advances in the basic and clinical sciences, including therapy and technology, changes in the understanding of disease, and the effect of social needs and demands on medical care. The faculty should foster in students the ability to learn through self-directed, independent study throughout their professional lives.

Finally, the faculty of each discipline should set the standards of achievement by all students in the study of that discipline. Examination should measure cognitive learning, mastery of basic clinical skills, the ability to use data in realistic problem solving, and respect for the rights and dignity of patients. Institutions must develop a system of assessment which assures that students have acquired and can demonstrate on direct observation the core clinical skills and behaviors needed in subsequent medical training.

Abilities and Skills Requisite for Medical School Completion

In the selection of students and in their progress through the curriculum, medical school faculty is guided by standards set by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). The faculty place strong emphasis on the academic achievements of applicants, including performance in the sciences relevant to medicine. This includes evidence of satisfactory scholastic achievement as indicated by grade point averages (GPA) and scores on the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). Breadth of education and life experiences are deemed important in the selection process.

The faculty is equally cognizant of its responsibilities to patients who will be a part of the educational process and to future patients who will entrust their welfare and lives to medical school graduates. They therefore consider carefully the personal and emotional characteristics, motivation, industry, maturity,

resourcefulness, and personal health appropriate to the effective physician.

Because the M.D. degree signifies that the holder is a physician prepared for entry into the practice of medicine within postgraduate training programs, it follows that graduates must acquire a foundation of knowledge in the basic and in the clinical sciences that will permit the pursuit of any of the several careers that medicine offers.

Candidates for the M.D. degree must have somatic sensation and the functional use of the senses of vision and hearing. Candidates’ diagnostic skills will also be lessened without the functional use of the senses of equilibrium, smell, and taste. Additionally, they must have sufficient exteroceptive sense (touch, pain, and temperature), sufficient proprioceptive senses (position, pressure, movement, stereognosis and vibratory) and sufficient motor function to permit them to carry out the activities described in the sections which follow. They must be able to consistently, quickly, and accurately integrate all information received by whatever sense(s) is employed, and they must have the intellectual ability to learn, integrate, analyze and synthesize data.

A candidate for the M.D. degree must have abilities and skills in six essential areas: (1) observation, (2) communication, (3) motor, (4) conceptual, integrative and quantitative, (5) behavioral and social, and (6) ethical. Technological compensation can be made for disabilities in certain of these areas; but a candidate should be able to perform in a reasonably independent manner. The use of a trained intermediary to observe or interpret information or to perform procedures is deemed to compromise the essential function of the physician and may jeopardize the safety of the patient. The six areas of abilities/skills are detailed as follows:

1. Observation: The candidate must be able to observe demonstrations and experiments in the basic sciences. A candidate must be able to observe a patient accurately at a distance and close at hand. Observation necessitates the functional use of the sense of vision and somatic sensation. It is enhanced by the functional use of the sense of smell.

2. Communication: A candidate should be able to speak; to hear; and to observe patients in order to elicit information, to describe changes in mood, activity and posture; and to perceive non-verbal communications. A candidate must be able to communicate effectively with patients. Communication includes not only speech but reading and writing. The candidate must be able to communicate effectively and efficiently in oral and written form with patients and with all members of the health care team.

3. Motor: Candidates should have sufficient motor functions to elicit information from patients by palpation, auscultation, percussion, and other diagnostic maneuvers. A candidate should be able to execute motor movements reasonably required to provide general care and emergency treatment to patients. Examples of emergency treatment reasonably required of physicians are cardiopulmonary resuscitation, administration of intravenous medication, application of pressure to stop bleeding, opening of obstructed airways, suturing of simple wounds, and performance of simple obstetrical maneuvers. Such actions require coordination of both gross and fine muscular movements, equilibrium and functional use of the senses of touch and vision.

4. Intellectual-Conceptual, Integrative and Quantitative Abilities: These abilities include measurement, calculation, reasoning, analysis, and synthesis. Problem solving and the clinical skills demanded of physicians require all of these intellectual abilities. In addition, the candidate should be able to comprehend three-dimensional relationships and to understand the spatial relationships of structures.

5. Behavioral and Social Attributes: A candidate must possess the emotional health required for full utilization of his/her intellectual abilities; the exercise of good judgment; the prompt completion of all responsibilities attendant to the diagnosis and care of patients; and the development of mature, sensitive, and effective relationships with patients. Candidates must be able to tolerate physically taxing workloads and to function effectively under stress. They must be able to adapt to changing environments, to display flexibility and to learn to function in the face of uncertainties and ambiguities inherent in the clinical problems of many patients. Compassion, integrity, concern for others, interpersonal skills, interest and motivation are all personal qualities that should be assessed during the admissions and education process.

6. Ethical Standards: A candidate must demonstrate professional demeanor and behavior, and must perform in an ethical manner in all dealings with peers, faculty, staff and patients.

Requesting Accommodations

Without compromising the standards required by the School or the fundamental integrity of its curriculum, the School recognizes that persons with disabilities, as that term is defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act, may fulfill the standards with reasonable accommodation. The School of Medicine is committed to developing innovative and creative ways of opening its curriculum to competitive and qualified candidates with disabilities. Requests for accommodation under the Standards for Curricular Completion will be considered on an individual basis and reasonable accommodation will be arranged if appropriate. The use of a trained intermediary to observe or interpret information is considered to compromise the essential function of the physician.

When an applicant comes for an interview at the School of Medicine, a copy of the detailed Standards for Curricular Completion will be included in the Orientation Packet. Questions about the Standards are welcomed and interviewees will be informed that they must be qualified to meet all of the  standards, with or without accommodation.

If a student is offered and accepts an admissions offer from the School of Medicine, the student must then sign a form acknowledging that he/she has read and understands that the Standards for Curricular Completion must be met with or without accommodation. A request for accommodation along with supporting documentation about the disability from an appropriate specialist and the proposed accommodation(s) must be presented in writing to the TTUHSC ADA Compliance Officer in the HSC Office of Student Services. Details about the process for requesting accommodation are available through the TTUHSC Office of Student Services website (www.ttuhsc.edu/studentservices/ada/default.aspx).

Copies of the request and documentation will then be forwarded to the School of Medicine Office of Student Affairs. The TTUHSC ADA Compliance Officer will submit the results of their review, along with specific recommendations if the request for accommodation is granted, to the School of Medicine Office of Student Affairs. The School may also seek independent review from a specialist of its choice. The decision on whether or not an accommodation request will be granted is made by a committee composed of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, the Associate Dean for Student Affairs, the Student Affairs Committee, and (as needed) ad hoc faculty who are knowledgeable regarding the area of disability. Such decisions are subject to review and approval by the Dean. If reasonable accommodation is feasible, effort will be made to provide the accommodation as classes begin. If the request for accommodation is denied, the student will be notified in writing.

The Faculty, through the Student Promotion and Professional Conduct Committee, has determined that students will be expected to complete the curriculum within four years from the time of initial matriculation and take all designated courses as appropriate for that stage of the curriculum. Exceptions to the requirement that students take all designated courses as appropriate for that stage of the curriculum may be sought and processed as other requests for accommodation, as noted above. Such a request will be based on 1) a specific disability certified by a qualified professional and accompanied by a specific recommendation for accommodation (i.e., a decompressed curriculum based on stated disability) and 2) a written request from the matriculant for such an accommodation based on stated disability. As noted above, while students will be expected to complete the curriculum in four years, an accommodation which includes a decompressed curriculum will not invalidate the requirement that a student must complete all curricular requirements in no more than six years from the time of initial matriculation (3 years for completion of the MS 1 and MS 2 years, and 3 years for the MS 3 and MS 4 years).

In the area of learning disabilities (see definitions on the TTUHSC Office of Student Services website), the student should note that he/she will have to petition the National Board of Medical Examiners for any accommodation on the United States Medical Licensing Examinations (Step 1, Step 2 Clinical Knowledge, Step 2 Clinical Skills, and Step 3) and that this process is in addition to and separate from any request for accommodation by the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine.

Health Insurance & Immunizations

The Association of American Medical Colleges states that all students should be immunized against a number of infectious diseases for their own safety as well as the safety of others. All matriculating TTUHSC School of Medicine students must be compliant with the school’s immunization requirements in order to register for classes.

Health Insurance Requirements

All students at TTUHSC School of Medicine are required to carry personal health insurance at all times while enrolled in the curriculum. The school’s clinical affiliates also require that students carry health insurance in order to participate in clinical experiences.

TTUHSC Student Services has information about health insurance that is available to students. However, many other insurance companies also offer health plans. Students should compare health insurance plans in order to select the plan that is best suited to their personal situation.

Students are required to provide proof of personal health insurance coverage each year during medical school. Clinical affiliates as well as other medical schools (for extramural learning experiences) reserve the right to require proof of coverage on demand and to exclude individuals without current insurance coverage from rotations.

Immunization Requirements

In order to protect the health of our medical students and the health of the patients with whom they come in contact, the School of Medicine requires all entering students to provide documentation of several immunizations as well as the results of serological titers to determine whether or not they are actually immune to certain diseases. Protective immunity provided by some immunizations declines over time, and some individuals do not ever produce protective antibodies after receiving immunizations. Serologic titers are needed to determine immune status and are performed on a blood sample drawn from the arm.

Students are not allowed to participate in any classes involving patient contact until all required immunization documentation has been received by the TTUHSC Office of Institutional Health. All students entering Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine must provide proof of

immunity documentation and/or the results of required titers.

• Tetanus/diphtheria booster within 10 years of matriculation
• Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis), one time dose as an adult (starting year 2005)
• Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR), protective antibody titer
• Hepatitis B surface antibody, protective antibody titer
• 2-step Tuberculin skin test (PPD) minimum of 7 days apart (if you haven’t had TB test within the past 12 months) OR documented physician diagnosis of disease OR chest X-ray in the past year following prior positive skin test
• Varicella (Chicken Pox), protective antibody titer
• Meningococcal (MCV), within the last 5 years – required for adults 22 years of age and younger
• Influenza vaccine