Student Supervision During Clinical Activities

All Site Directors and physicians who teach or evaluate students must have a faculty appointment before assuming their role. This ensures compliance with the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) standards and the UMMS Supervision policy.

Element 9.2: Faculty Appointments. “A medical school ensures that supervision of medical student learning experiences is provided throughout required clerkships by members of the school’s faculty.”

Element 9.3: Clinical Supervision of Medical Students. “A medical school ensures that medical students in clinical learning situations involving patient care are appropriately supervised at all times in order to ensure patient and student safety, that the level of responsibility delegated to the student is appropriate to his or her level of training, and that the activities supervised are within the scope of practice of the supervising health professional.”

Preceptors assigned to supervise medical students must have the faculty appointment prior to taking on supervision responsibility and be familiar with the clerkship learning objectives and assessment methods. They are also expected to be familiar with relevant medical school policies. This information can be found on the Faculty Expectations webpage.

Concerns regarding teaching responsibilities or curriculum should be directed to the Office of Curriculum (kemurray@umn.edu). For concerns related to assessment and evaluation, questions can be directed to the Office of Assessment and Evaluation (cviolato@umn.edu). For details on faculty appointment policies and procedures visit the Office of Faculty Affairs webpage.

Adapted from the Student Supervision During Clinical Activities policy maintained by the UMMS Office of Accreditation and Quality Improvement. Last updated January 2023.

Requesting or Renewing a Faculty Appointment

The department (with approval by the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs) makes the determination of the appointment type. To read more about each type of appointment and the process for requesting the appointment, see the policies below. 

Adjunct Faculty Appointments and Adjunct Faculty Procedures

Community Instructor Faculty Appointments

For details on faculty appointment policies and procedures visit the Office of Faculty Affairs webpage.