Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2023 3:29 PM
To: SOM - Class of 2024 Admin <classof2024admin@med.wayne.edu>
Subject: Important Reference--M4 course eval process update
Class of 2024:
Some reminders on your M4 course work.—you may want to keep this email for reference—lots of important information to help navigate M4.
You should have received, and will be receiving, multiple email reminders from Enrollment Management and Curricular Affairs (Hannah Levine) about coursework.
It is important to spend the five seconds to read them and review all of the information in these emails as they come in. We have many policies and procedures, all aimed at getting you eligible for graduation in June 2024 (we do not like last-minute surprises and neither do program directors).
Some reminders on the basics:
1. As you are all hither and yon in rotations this year, it is your responsibility (and in your own best interest) to get evaluations done. It is difficult and really impossible for the School of Medicine to know every resident and faculty rounding on your particular service, so we trust you to get the evaluations to the right people). Every M4 student knows how to request evaluations in NI, but not all preceptors for M4 courses know the system as well as you. Many preceptors have only occasional students, students from other schools with different evaluation tools, are at non-core hospitals, etc. You need to help preceptors with the evaluation forms or risk not getting a grade.
a. Away rotations: Make sure to notify enrollment management of the email address of who is doing the evaluation. We will send the form and login for NI. If the preceptor has not previously been in our NI system, they will get login info, which usually ends up in their spam folder the first time. Alert them to look there. Be persistent, but not annoying.
i. If an away rotation insists on using their own paper form for evaluations, we can only document that you were there and had a satisfactory performance. Since our template for honors is our own, we cannot translate honors from Idaho Community Hospital to our honors, so we cannot award honors with non-NI forms. This is rarely a problem.
b. Discussing your evaluation with the preceptor is always preferred and can lead to a letter of recommendation. It can also provide a chance to remind them to check the spam folder for your NI form.
c. Timeliness of grades: We need June grades in for July financial aid disbursement. This causes some friction at times as it is summer break, July 4, etc. But you need your rent money! Ninety-nine percent of preceptors needed money in med school, so explain and they will get it in pronto. We also explain that to them, and it works.
d. Home rotations: Most preceptors are in NI and you can assign an evaluation just like in M3. At the same time, you need to fill out an evaluation of the preceptor.
e. On some rotations the evaluations will be assigned centrally for you—especially on non-clinical classes like CK prep-. If in doubt, check NI or contact records.
2. Course evaluations: Just like last year, you must fill out a course evaluation in order to get a grade posted. This is for all courses (except CK Prep, of course). Enrollment will not post grades this year on Academica unless your evaluation of the course is on file. Grades on NI are not official from a financial aid point of view until they are posted on Academica.
3. Preceptor evaluations: These are required for residents and faculty with whom you work. They are still embargoed for 90 days post-rotation. They may not be automatically assigned, so you need to assign them yourself to yourself. Many of our best teachers are in M4 and we like to recognize them and credit them, even though they may not have M3 students.
4. Course information: DO NOT WAIT until the 31st of the month to ask, "Where am I going on the first?" Especially if the 31st is a Sunday, you will get no answer. You are responsible for showing up to the right place on the morning of the first of the month, even if it is a weekend or holiday. (Many preceptors will say “show up on Monday”, but clinical teams will expect you on the first even if it is a weekend or holiday).
a. You may or may not get a welcome email with instructions. If you do, great. If not, take steps at least a week before the start. And if you don’t know where to go, ask us. We will help (and update the page).
b. The M4 page has information for contacting your course. As this information changes with 300 courses in the catalog and coordinators changing jobs, we rely on you to keep the information updated for your classmates. We have very successfully updated this information the past few years. If you are unsuccessful in contacting the site, send an email a week prior to the course's start.
c. Hannah Levine will send reminders with links on a monthly basis reminding you of these procedures.
5. Course changes: All course changes are subject to review and must be placed at least ~45 days prior to the start. You will get a reminder from Enrollment Management but it is still your responsibility. For example, July course changes are due May 15. The Elective Course Coordinator List includes a tab with approximate 45-day deadlines for your convenience.
a. Any changes for emergencies or academic issues will need to be approved by Curricular Affairs.
b. All changes need an add/drop form completed with Enrollment Management so they can be accurately entered and credited.
c. As a caution when looking at available courses—HF and other sites do not update their numbers in our system. So it may LOOK like there is a seat available but there may not be. It may be filled with a student from another school through VSLO, etc. Enrollment will need to confirm any additional students before the course change is final.
6. MSPE grades: We will include grades and comments from your courses from April through July on your MSPE. Few schools do this, but we feel it has helped over the last few years (maybe this helps in our 100% match?). For anyone who has their only specialty course in August (i.e., applying ObGyn but could not schedule a course until August), you can discuss inclusion of this grade in your MSPE. Getting your evaluations, selecting enough evaluators, making sure that the evaluations are in on time—it all pays off with an awesome MSPE.
Christopher Steffes, M.D.
Associate Dean for Clinical Education
Wayne State University School of Medicine
Professor of Surgery
csteffes@med.wayne.edu
