Criminal Background Check and Drug Screening
The Burnett School of Medicine adopts the Association of American Medical Colleges’ (AAMC) recommendation to ascertain the ability of students to eventually become licensed physicians in the future, enhance the safety and well-being of patients, and to ensure the public’s continuing trust in the medical profession through criminal background checks and substance abuse reviews.
Criminal Background Check
Applicants and candidates for admission must disclose any arrest for and/or criminal charges of criminal activity at application or within five days of the incident. Completion of a criminal background check is required for all candidates for admissions and annually thereafter. A criminal background check includes all convictions and conviction-equivalent adjudications, plus all arrests without final adjudication, felonies and misdemeanors.
Drug Screening
Candidates for admission must complete a 10-panel drug screening prior to matriculation and annually thereafter. The drug screening is conducted through a third-party vendor contracted with the Burnett School of Medicine. Any adverse findings are reviewed by the Burnett School of Medicine and could result in revocation of the admissions offer.
Other Requirements
Immunizations
The Burnett School of Medicine requires proof of immunity or inoculation to certain diseases for the safety of patients and others. This proof is required at admission and through graduation and must remain up-to-date and compliant in order to be cleared for medical education training. Entering medical students will be provided instruction and deadlines regarding immunizations during the onboarding process. The student is financially responsible for immunizations.
Health Insurance
The Burnett School of Medicine requires all students to carry health insurance during their enrollment periods.
Technical Standards Policy
Policy Statement
The MD degree is a broad undifferentiated degree attesting to general knowledge in medicine and the basic skills required for entering residency training while meeting all requirements for medical licensure, including being informed and ground by required undergraduate and graduate medical education (UME and GME) competencies. Essential abilities and characteristics required for completion of the MD degree consist of minimum physical and cognitive abilities, and mental and emotional health to assure that students, at 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. Students must be able to master completion of all required educational objectives in order to graduate and successfully perform as a resident. A preference for an area of practice does not alter the requirement of mastering all competencies before graduation. Students who believe they may need to request reasonable academic accommodations for documented disabilities should contact Student Access and Accommodation (SAA) via the Medical Student Access and Accommodation Compliance Officer for the Burnett School of Medicine. The officer will help the student begin the process of submission of materials for potential approval.
The ability to meet these requirements while maintaining patient safety is fundamental to the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University allowing students access to patients. Meeting these requirements is essential to admission, progression, continued enrollment and graduation from the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU.
Purpose
The following abilities and characteristics are defined as technical standards, which in conjunction with the educational standards established by the faculty, are requirements for admission, promotion and graduation. Requests for university-provided accommodations may be provided if the requests are reasonable, do not cause a fundamental alteration of the medical education program, do not pose a direct threat to the educational process, health or safety of self-and/or others (including patients), do not cause an undue hardship on the university/school, are consistent with the standards of the medical profession, and are recommended by the TCU Student Access and Accommodation Office in agreement with the SOM.
Observational skills: Students are required to be able to observe demonstrations, participate and engage in the basic and clinical sciences, including but not limited to the observation of cadaveric dissection, radiologic studies, microbiologic cultures, and microscopic studies of microorganisms and tissues in normal and pathologic states. Students are required to be able to observe a patient accurately at a distance and close at hand and recognize appropriate altered functions or conditions. Experiential learning necessitates the functional use of the sense of vision, hearing and somatic sensation or the functional equivalent.
Communication skills: Students are required to be able to communicate effectively in oral and written form, and do so empathetically with patients, their families, and members of the health care team. They are required to be able to obtain a relevant and comprehensive medical history with clear legible documentation, interpret non-verbal cues of communication and establish empathetic professional relationships.
Motor skills: Students, after a reasonable period of training, should possess the ability to gather information and perform physical examinations and diagnostic maneuvers.
Students should be able to respond to clinical situations in a timely manner and provide general and emergency care. Examples of emergency care reasonably required of physicians are cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the administration of intravenous medication, the application of pressure to stop bleeding, the opening of obstructed airways, the suturing of simple wounds, and the performance of simple obstetrical maneuvers. Such actions require some functional mobility, coordination of both gross and fine motor neuromuscular function and balance and equilibrium or the functional equivalent.
Intellectual-conceptual skills and Cognitive skills: Students are required to be able to assimilate the detailed and complex information presented in the medical student curriculum. They should be able to learn through a variety of modalities including, but not limited to classroom instruction, small group team and collaborative activities, individual study, preparation and presentation of reports, simulation and use of computer technology.
Students are required to be able to measure, calculate, reason, analyze, synthesize and transmit information. Problem solving, the critical skill demanded of physicians, requires all of these intellectual abilities. In addition, the student should be able to comprehend three-dimensional spatial relationships and to understand the logical sequential relationships of structures and among events.
They are required to be able to formulate and test hypotheses that enable effective and timely problem-solving in diagnosis and treatment of patients in a variety of clinical settings and health care systems.
Clinical, Diagnostic and Evaluation skills: Students must be capable of performing developmentally appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic procedures as defined by the educational objectives. The uniqueness of the Burnett School of Medicine curriculum reinforces the need of attendance and engagement with the specific learning methods and environment. The Burnett School of Medicine utilizes a distributed model of clinical placements and students must have a reliable means of transportation to be present in a timely manner to their assigned clinical sites. The Burnett School of Medicine is not able to accommodate all requests for specific site placements.
Students must be able to interact and examine patients of all gender, beliefs in a variety of difficult situations. The ability to function as a safe and effective clinician at any hour—while managing the physical and cognitive demands inherent in extended and overnight duty—is a non-negotiable behavioral attribute of the undifferentiated physician.
To ensure the breadth of patient care experiences and the variation of the environment within which care is delivered, students are required to participate in patient care both during weekday and weekend days and for any time frame within a 24-hour day cycle. It is necessary to be present during different time frames in order to recognize characteristic temporal patterns that can only be directly observed during evening, overnight, or early-morning clinical rotations. Thus, it is necessary to be present during different time frames in order to recognize both pathology and patient care resources that can only be directly observed during evening, overnight, or early-morning clinical rotations. Examples include nocturnal asthma exacerbations, early-morning cardiovascular events, overnight sepsis progression, and post-operative delirium. Students must also demonstrate observational competency not only in the direct assessment of patients but in the reading of the clinical environment itself—including the resource availability, staffing composition, and team capacity characteristic of overnight care settings. The ability to calibrate clinical decision-making to the constraints of a reduced-resource overnight environment is an observational and reasoning skill that is specifically evaluated during after-hours rotations and directly predicts residency preparedness. This also allows students to learn and practice the wellness skills that clinicians utilize to provide consistent clinical care on a 24-hour basis.
Behavioral attributes, social skills and professional expectations: Students should possess the emotional capacity required for full utilization of their intellectual abilities, the exercise of good judgment, professionalism, the prompt completion of all responsibilities attendant to their curriculum and to the diagnosis and care of patients, and the development of mature, sensitive, and effective relationships with patients and the healthcare team. Students should be able to tolerate or manage physically taxing workloads and to function effectively under stress. They should be aware that, at times, their presence is required during the day, evening and night and weekend hours. Students must possess the self-regulatory capacity to recognize and actively manage the effects of fatigue on clinical performance, to seek appropriate supervision when cognitive limitations may compromise patient safety, and to maintain professional standards of conduct during all periods of clinical duty. Students should be able to adapt to changing environments, to display flexibility, and to learn to function in the face of uncertainties inherent in the clinical problems of many patients in a competent and professional manner. Compassion, integrity, concern for others, interpersonal skills, interest, and motivation are all personal qualities that are assessed during the admissions and education processes. Students must demonstrate the behavioral attributes of professional accountability and clinical autonomy appropriate to their level of training. Students should understand relevant legal and ethical aspects of the practice of medicine and function within both the law and ethical standards of the medical profession.
Guidelines
- At application, admission offer, annually thereafter and upon return from a leave of absence, students will attest to their understanding of the technical standards.
- Students seeking academic accommodations for documented disabilities should contact Student Access and Accommodation (SAA) via the Medical Student Access and Accommodation Compliance Officer for the Burnett School of Medicine. The Officer will help the student begin the process of submission of materials for potential approval. If there is a possible change in the student’s ability to meet the technical standards, the student is responsible for contacting the assistant dean for student affairs to report this change. The university shall provide reasonable accommodations appropriate for each eligible student who (a) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity as documented by a licensed health care provider, (b) has a record or history of such impairment, or (c) is regarded as having such impairment.
To apply for accommodations, each eligible student must present to Student Access and Accommodation verifiable, professional documentation and/or assessment reports that meet the university’s official guidelines.