Medical Student Handbook

Policy Recommendations for Responding to Students with Impairment Due to Substance Abuse

Table of Contents Handbook Homepage POLICIES & GUIDELINES - Privacy & Access to Academic Records - Disabilities Technical Standards Policy - Assistance for Individual w/Disabilities - ADA Ombudsperson - Mistreatment of Medical Students - Sexual Harassment - Assessment Data - Religious Observance - The U.S. Medical Licensing Examination - Alcohol Use On School of Medicine Property - Impairment Due to Substance Abuse - Self Disclosure in the Course of Learning - Confidentiality - Teaching Exercises with Student Subjects - Video Equipment Use - Regulatory, Health and Other Requirements --- Infection Control --- In-Service Education Competency Exam --- Certification in Use of Clinical Information System --- Medical Student CPR Certification --- University Health Requirements MD Student Responsibility, Conduct, & Academic Policies ACADEMIC ISSUES - Verification of Eligibility for Matriculation - Verification of Academic Credentials - Completion of Required Experiences - Remedial Work - Completion of Academic Deficiencies - Grading Policy up to Class of 2002 - Double Helix Grading Policy - Student Assessment Guide --- Comprehensive Assessments - MD with Distinction - AOA and Dean's Letter Rankings - In-Depth Experience - Plagiarism - Absences from Classes & Academic Responsibilities - Policy on Time Away From Clerkships - Class Attendance - Leaves of Absence - Year-Out Fellowships - Drop/Add Deadline Policy SUPPORT SERVICES - Academic Support Services - University Health Service - Counseling and Mental Health Services - Chaplain's Office - Division of Medical Informatics - Women in Science, Dentistry & Medicine (WISDM) - Assistance for Pregnant Medical Students - Miner Library ADVISING & STUDENT ENRICHMENT PROGRAMS - Advisory Dean Program - Student Enrichment Programs - Student-Sponsored Symposium CONSUMER & LEGAL ASSISTANCE - Integrity Hotline - University Housing - Executing Legal Documents - Consumer and Legal Assistance OFFICES FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION - Medical Education - Student Services Center - Advisory Deans - Student Affairs Office - Registrar's Office - Financial Aid Office - Bursar's Office - Office for Ethnic & Multicultural Affairs - Admissions Office - Medical Alumni Affairs - Student Enrichment Programs - Graduate Studies - Offices for Educational Research - Curricular Affairs Office - Facilities for Students - Student Computing DOUBLE HELIX CURRICULUM MEDICAL EDUCATION OBJECTIVES

Principles Forming the Basis of the University of Rochester Policy and Procedures

1. Substance abuse is, for most, a lifelong illness. The interests of recovering substance abusers will be served by long-term monitoring which documents their continued abstinence. The School must have a means for offering diagnosis, and, where appropriate, treatment to its members whose performance is impaired by substance abuse.
2. The School has a responsibility to patients served by its students and graduates (to protect them from impaired practitioners); furthermore, the School has a responsibility to residency programs which its graduates enter (to assure that identified impaired students will continue to have appropriate support provided).
3. The impaired student has a right to privacy (the substance abuse will not be known to any outside the treating physician); the student's status in the School should not be jeopardized, so long as patient welfare is not endangered (patient safety shall have the highest priority) and so long as the student is satisfactorily undergoing treatment.
4. Students should have ready access to sound treatment for substance abuse.

Structure and Mechanisms of the Policy

1. Structure: The Impaired Medical Student Program will consist of two independent components.
   1. An impaired Medical Student Committee, composed of students and faculty, will be formed to enhance drug and substance abuse education and prevention. It will advertise the methods by which students believed to be impaired by substance abuse may be identified, treated, and monitored. Funding of these activities should be borne by the Dean's Office.
   2. A separate (Committee for Physicians' Health) arm will manage identification, treatment, and monitoring. No students, members of the medical school administration, or faculty (except as they might be chosen to treat students) will be involved in these activities. Funding for identification will be borne by the Dean's office; funding for treatment and monitoring will be borne by the student.
2. Mechanisms
   1. Students whose performance is believed to be impaired because of substance abuse must be reported to the Committee for Physician Health (CPH) by dialing a hotline number (1-800-338-1833). Students refusing evaluation will be referred, by the CPH, to the OME. The OME need not be bound by strict confidentiality and may take administrative action (e.g., suspension or dismissal) against a student who does not cooperate with evaluation. The CPH will attempt to assess whether a substance abuse problem exists, and, if it does, whether performance as a student has been impaired.
   2. If substance abuse is thought not to exist, the records of that evaluation will be destroyed.
   3. If substance abuse is thought to exist but impaired performance has not occurred, treatment will be recommended and will be undertaken confidentially. The student may refuse treatment without penalty or further notification.
   4. If performance as a student has been impaired by substance abuse, treatment by CPH therapists will be recommended. Jeopardy to patient welfare (by impaired students) or refusal by the student to undergo treatment will lead to notification of the OME. Confidentiality will be preserved so long as the student accepts, complies with, and successfully undergoes, treatment. Successful abstention will be documented by monitoring blood or urine drug levels as long as the CPH physician deems it necessary.
   5. Relapse will be dealt with by resumption of treatment. If patient welfare is not jeopardized and the student responds to resumed treatment, confidentiality will be preserved.
   6. If the period of necessary treatment and/or monitoring extends beyond graduation, the (New York Medical Society) CPH will notify the CPH of the State of the student's residency and request that treatment and/or monitoring continue in that State.