Essential abilities and characteristics required for completion of the MD degree consist of certain minimum physical and cognitive abilities and sufficient mental and emotional stability to assure that candidates for admission, promotion, and graduation are able to complete the entire course of study and participate fully in all aspects of medical training, with or without reasonable accommodation.
The following abilities and characteristics are defined as technical standards, which, in conjunction with academic standards established by the faculty, are requirements for admission, promotion, and graduation. Delineation of technical standards is required for the accreditation of the Program. Although these standards serve to delineate the necessary physical and mental abilities of all candidates, they are not intended to deter any candidate for whom reasonable accommodation will allow the fulfillment of the complete curriculum. Candidates with questions regarding technical standards are encouraged to contact the Registrar’s office immediately to begin to address what types of accommodation may be considered for development to achieve these standards. Admission to the MD Program at American University of Integrative Sciences is conditional on the candidate’s having the ability to satisfy these technical standards, with or without reasonable accommodation, and results from a process that examines and values all of the skills, attitudes, and attributes of each candidate on a case-by-case basis.
The Program has an ethical responsibility for the safety of patients with whom students and graduates will come in contact. Although students learn and work under the supervision of the faculty, students interact with patients throughout their education. Patient safety and well-being are therefore major factors in establishing requirements involving the physical, cognitive, and emotional abilities of candidates for admission, promotion, and graduation. Candidates must have the physical and emotional stamina and capacity to function in a competent manner in the hospital, classroom, and laboratory settings, including settings that may involve heavy workloads, long hours, and stressful situations. Individuals whose performance is impaired by abuse of alcohol or other substances are not suitable candidates for admission, promotion, or graduation.
I. Observation and sensory skills: Candidates and students must have functional vision, hearing, and sensation to be able to visually observe patients accurately and completely, both at a distance and directly and materials presented in the learning environment including audiovisual presentations, written documents, microbiology cultures, microscopic examination of microorganisms, tissues and gross organs in the normal and pathologic state, and diagnostic images.
Ethical and Legal Standards – Candidates must meet the legal standards to be licensed to practice medicine. As such, candidates for admission must acknowledge and provide written explanation of any felony offense or disciplinary action taken against them prior to matriculation in the Program. In addition, should the student be convicted of any felony offense while in the Program, they agree to immediately notify the Registrar’s office as to the nature of the conviction? Failure to disclose prior or new offenses can lead to disciplinary action that may include dismissal.
II. Communication skills: Candidates and students should be able to effectively speak, write, hear, read and use a keyboard. They must perceive non-verbal communications, including facial expression, body language, and effect. They must be able to communicate effectively and sensitively with patients, their families, and the healthcare team via speech as well as reading/writing in an effective, accurate and efficient manner.
Equal Access to AUIS’s Educational Program
The AUIS MD Program intends for its students and graduates to become competent and compassionate clinicians who will meet all requirements for medical licensure.
The Program has an institutional commitment to provide equal educational opportunities for qualified students with disabilities who apply for admission to the program, with a strong commitment to full compliance with state and federal laws and regulations (including the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990). As previously noted, admitted candidates with disabilities are reviewed individually, on a case-by-case basis. Accommodation is not reasonable if it poses a direct threat to the health or safety of self and/or others, if making it requires a substantial modification in an essential element of the curriculum, if it lowers academic standards, or poses an undue administrative or financial burden.
III. Motor skills: Candidates and students must have sufficient motor function and strength and mobility to elicit information from patients by palpation, auscultation, and percussion, as well as carry out diagnostic maneuvers. They should be able to execute movements reasonably required to provide general medical care and emergency treatment to patients. These skills require coordination of gross and fine motor movements, equilibrium, and sensation. Essential motor functions include the manipulation of equipment and instruments to perform basic laboratory tests and procedures as required to attain curricular goals. (e.g. needles, stethoscope, ophthalmoscope, tongue blades, intravenous equipment, scalpel).
Process
As stated above, admission and promotion at the School of Medicine are conditional on the candidate’s having the willingness and ability to satisfy the technical standards, with or without reasonable accommodation.
Admitted candidates who have a disability and need accommodations should initiate discussions with the Registrar’s Office as soon as the offer of admission is received and accepted. It is the responsibility of a candidate with a disability to provide sufficiently current information documenting the general nature and extent of his/her disability, and the functional limitations proposed to be accommodated.
Should a candidate have or develop a condition that would place patients, the candidate, or others at risk or that may affect his/her need for accommodation, that student should receive an evaluation. As in initial assessments, a complete and careful reconsideration of all the skills, attitudes, and attributes of each candidate will be performed.
IV. Intellectual/Conceptual, Integrative, and Quantitative Abilities: These skills involve performing calculations necessary to solve quantitative problems as required by the curriculum. The candidates and students must be able to collect, organize, prioritize, analyze and assimilate large amounts of technically detailed and complex information in a timely fashion. This information will be presented in a variety of educational settings, including lectures, small group discussions, and individual clinical settings. The candidates and students should be able to remain awake and alert, comprehend the three-dimensional spatial relationships of structures, analyze, integrate, and apply this information appropriately for the problem solving and decision-making. To apply knowledge and reasoning to solve problems as outlined by the curriculum.
V. Behavioral, Emotional and Social Skills: Candidates and students must possess the emotional health to fully apply his/her intellectual skills, exercise good judgment, and complete all responsibilities attendant to the diagnosis and care of patients. They must have the ability to tolerate develop a mature, sensitive and effective relationship with patients and colleagues while maintaining appropriate boundaries for a professional relationship. Candidates and students must be able to tolerate the physical, mental and emotional stress experienced during training and patient care; to possess qualities of adaptability, flexibility, and the ability to function in the face of uncertainty. They must exhibit sufficient interpersonal skills, knowledge, and attitudes to interact positively and sensitively with people from all parts of society, ethnic backgrounds, and belief systems. They will cooperate with others and work collaboratively as a team member.