64B8-15.008. Medical Students

(1) Admissions.

(a) As noted previously, students in the United States are selectively admitted to the study of medicine after a period of preparation which includes study of the biological, physical and behavioral sciences, and general education subjects such as mathematics, history and language. Admission is competitive as there are more applicants than places available in the entering classes of the medical schools. But once admitted a very high proportion complete the requirements for the professional degree.

(b) It is recognized this pattern of entry varies among foreign medical schools. In final analysis no one system of medical education should be required world-wide. Nevertheless, there are basic principles concerning the making of a competent, compassionate, and above all safe physician that must be adhered to.

(c) Whether the graduates of a medical institution are carefully selected on the basis of aptitude and achievement prior to beginning medical studies or promoted on the basis of achievement in medical school, they should possess demonstrable intelligence, integrity and personal and emotional characteristics generally perceived necessary to become effective physicians.

(d) Selection is a responsibility of the faculty, both for entry into the medical education program and to be graduated from it. Persons or groups external to the medical school may assist in the evaluation of applicants, but the final responsibility must not be delegated outside the medical faculty. The faculty should develop criteria and procedures for the selection, promotion and graduation of students. The faculty should make known through written documents its standards for admission and progress through the medical studies. It must be made abundantly clear that outside influences, financial or political, are unacceptable.

(2) Admission with Advanced Standing and by Transfer.

(a) A medical school may admit medical students with advanced standing where the faculty determines that the student may receive credit for courses taken prior to admission in one or more subjects required by and taught in the medical school. Such credit can be given to the student upon admission when the faculty of the medical school has determined that the content of the course is equivalent to the course given in the medical school and the performance of the student in the subject is comparable to the performance required of students enrolled in the medical school. The faculty must develop and publish the bases for giving credit for admission with advanced standing or transfer from another medical school.

(b) Transfer from one medical education program to another should be discouraged except in rare instances and for compelling reasons. Separate programs are rarely completely compatible, often leading to compromise of the student’s progress.

(c) The diversity of medical school curricula and the integration of the curriculum at individual schools require that applications for transfer between medical schools be individually considered so that both the school and the student will be assured that courses previously taken are compatible with the program to be entered. Otherwise, supplementation of a student’s program after transfer will be necessary. Transfer students may be accepted in the middle years of the curriculum but should not be accepted into the final year of the program. Students accepted for transfer must demonstrate academic achievements in college and medical school that are comparable to those of the students in the class they seek to join. The medical school must keep records which document its evaluation of transfer students.

(3) Considerations of Class Size.

(a) The number of students to be admitted is determined by the resources of the school and the number of qualified applicants. To achieve and maintain certification, each medical school must demonstrate that it has access to a pool of applicants sufficiently large and possessing national level qualifications to fill its first year class. The critical resources include finances, the size of the faculty, the variety of academic fields represented, the library, the number and size of classrooms and student laboratories and the adequacy of their equipment, and office and laboratory space for the faculty. There should be available a spectrum of clinical resources sufficiently under the control of the faculty to ensure breadth and quality of in-hospital and ambulatory clinical teaching and direct experience with patients in the major fields of clinical medicine for each student, under direct supervision of the faculty.

(b) In addition, when determining the size of the medical student body, the school should consider the need for resources to be shared to educate graduate students or other students within the university, the size and variety of programs of graduate medical education, both as a responsibility and as a supplement to the teaching program, and responsibilities for continuing education, patient care and research.

(4) Visiting Students from Programs Not Certified. Care must be exercised in assuming responsibility for clinical clerkships for medical students enrolled in medical schools not certified by the Florida Department of Health. Such visiting students may be less well prepared to undertake the responsibilities of clinical clerkships than students enrolled in certified programs. These students may require remedial work, greater supervision and a more intense utilization of resources. For these reasons, Florida views the acceptance and inclusion of such students in the required clinical clerkships as an indication for the reassessment of the M.D. programs certification.

Specific Authority 458.309, 458.314(4) FS. Law Implemented 458.314 FS. History–New 8-24-87, Formerly 21M-42.008, 61F6-42.008, 59R-15.008.