Clinical Intersections: Attendance and Absence Request Policy and Procedures

The Clinical Intersections attendance procedure is similar to the procedure for Transition to Clerkships (TTC). M3 students attend designated in‐person sessions that are scheduled throughout Phase 2 of the Illinois Medicine Curriculum. Dates for this course are provided to students in advance.

Note: students should not schedule outside activities on the days they are assigned to attend Clinical Intersections, since they may start as early as 7:00 am and may end as late as 6:00 pm. The Clinical Intersections dates may vary across campuses.

All segments of Clinical Intersections must be completed to satisfy graduation requirements. This includes all scheduled activities such as assignments, workshops, TBLs, and group sessions. This is to ensure that all students are provided with the tools that will help them to stay safe, build their community of practice, foster their own wellness in the clinical setting, and to excel in the clinical environment.

Requesting Excusal in Clinical Intersections and Phases 2/3: Remember that planning ahead for any time off is very important, especially in your clinical training. In Phase 2/3 students follow the Expectations for Participation in Phase 2 and Phase 3 to request absences in writing from clerkships, electives, and other courses. Permission for absences is granted by course, clerkship, or elective directors and is consistent with the College‐wide policy. Note that you must ask permission in your written requests; you should never assume that a request will automatically be granted.

Absence: Absences for this course and any other experience in Phases 2 and 3 should be requested via email in advance to the designee identified by the course or clerkship. Documentation may be required with the exception of absences due to the observance of religious holidays. To request an absence from the Clinical Intersections course, you should reach out to campus course administrator in advance of the session. If possible, the student may make up the session during their M3 year.

Late Arrival: Students should always plan to arrive 10 minutes prior to the session’s start time. If a student knows they are going to be late, the campus course administrator should be contacted either in advance or immediately following the session to explain the reason for the late arrival. The course administrator will begin tracking late arrival 10 minutes past the posted start time for the session.

 Leaving Early: Leaving a session prior to its completion without proper notification is a professionalism issue and considered an unexcused absence. If a student must leave a session due to an emergent issue, or if the situation meets the criteria for excused absence, the student should contact the campus course administrator as soon as feasible. The campus course administrator will work with course faculty to deem the absence to be excused or unexcused.

Unexcused absences, unexcused late arrivals, and missed assignments: Unexcused absences, arriving late, and missing assignments are never acceptable in Phase 2/3, nor are they acceptable in Clinical Intersections or either of the other portions of Clinical Connections and Competencies (TTC and TTR). An unexcused absence, late arrival, and/or missing assignments may elicit a “Professional Development Concerns” form in addition to the student not receiving a satisfactory grade in the course. If a pattern of late behavior or unexcused absences is detected, or if a serious professionalism breach is reported, the student will meet with the Curricular Dean, the Campus Course Director and/or Campus Course Administrator and the Student Affairs Dean and/or the student’s advisor.

Making up missed time: Any missed time, whether excused or unexcused, must be “made‐up” before a satisfactory course grade will be submitted. Students who miss their Clinical Intersections ‘day’ are required to do the following:

  1. Non-procedural skills session: Students will complete all reflective assignments given as pre- work. Students will review the facilitator guide for the session, and they will select 2 questions to answer from the facilitator guide, writing a response of at least 500 words for each The write-up will be due 1 week after the student’s assigned Clinical Intersections date.
  2. Procedural skills session: Students will work with the campus course director to determine when they can make up their procedural skills session.
  3. The campus course director will determine if the student’s write-up fulfills course expectations before assigning a grade.

Absence due to LOA: Students who are on a Leave of Absence will not be scheduled for Clinical Intersections and are not required to attend. Students who matriculated prior to the Class of 2022 and are on a Leave of Absence will be scheduled for Clinical Intersections after they sit for Step 1. These students should communicate with their OSA advisor and the Clinical Intersections campus course administrator to confirm when their attendance will be required.

Revised 5/20/24