Fourth Year Curriculum
General Policies

1. Whenever a student is engaged in an approved elective, the MUSM malpractice liability insurance program protects both the student and the elective preceptor. Information on this program is available through the Registrar’s office.
    
2. MUSM will assume no responsibility for arranging or financing student lodging, travel, or tuition requirements at other medical education institutions.
    
3. If a student is not registered for an elective, he/she will not receive credit for it, even if the student had the preceptor’s approval and has completed the course requirements.
    
4. All schedule changes must be completed at least four weeks prior to the start of the elective course. The Change of Schedule Form must be used both to drop and add courses and should be returned to the Medical Student Program Coordinator when all signatures have been obtained.
    
5. All elective courses are subject to:
    
   • Approval by the student’s advisor
   • Approval by the Year IV Program Director
   • Approval by the Year 4 Subcommittee and Curriculum Committee (for Student Generated Electives)
      
6. If circumstances prevent a student from completing a scheduled elective, he/she will be required to make up the elective time or receive an unsatisfactory grade for the elective. The student must send a written explanation of withdrawal to the Department Chairman with copies to the Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs.
    
7. In order to maintain credibility of MUSM students at external sites, MUSM students must have a history of honoring their commitments. Therefore, electives, not directly supervised by our faculty, may not be dropped once final arrangements have been made except with the written permission of both the external institution and the MUSM sponsoring department.
    
8. Time off from curricular activities for interviews: Taking time off from curricular activities for interviews is not recommended. However, in recognition that interviews in some specialties and at some locations can be difficult to arrange, students may request limited time off from scheduled curricular activities to attend interviews.
   
   All time taken for interviews during scheduled curricular electives/selectives must be reported to the Medical Student Coordinator

• Time off for interviews will be solely at the discretion of the preceptor
• Please check with the preceptor for your rotation prior to arranging your interview schedule.

• Time off will be limited to no more than 2 days for 2 week experiences, and 3 days for 4 week experiences. The total time off for interviews shall not exceed 6 days for the year.
• No time off can be taken during Community Medicine without the approval of the Program Director.

• No time off can be taken during Emergency Medicine. However, interviews may be conducted while on Emergency Medicine during the regularly scheduled off-duty days.