PURPOSE / SCOPE:
Provide resources to guide and assist student physicians in achieving academic success, culminating in graduation from ICOM.
DEFINITIONS:
- LMS: Learning Management System
- SSC: Student Success Committee
- PAR Committee: Professionalism and Academic Review Committee
POLICY:
ICOM’s Value Statement reflects a commitment to student success and the institution strives to retain all students who demonstrate appropriate academic and professional progress through the curriculum. ICOM prioritizes efforts to ensure student retention.
ICOM employs full-time learning specialists and behavioral health specialists to assist students with academic and personal struggles that may result in barriers to success. Routine required Dean’s Hour sessions with administration provide information, strategies, and coaching for students appropriate for their phase of education. A student mentor tutoring program is in place to provide peer-to-peer opportunities for improvement.
ICOM assigns a faculty advisor to each student physician upon matriculation. Advisors meet their group of advisees at orientation and follow-up with individual and group meetings for the duration of each student physician’s time at ICOM. The Advising Manual further outlines the role and responsibilities of being a faculty advisor.
In addition to serving as a faculty advisor for a small group of advisees each year, faculty are expected to provide academic guidance to student physicians enrolled in the courses in which they teach. They may accomplish this by written communication through email or the LMS, by conversation in the learning environment, by formal or informal office hours, and by casual conversation in the normal course of a day.
The ICOM SSC is charged with proactively identifying student physicians who are at risk for course or program failure and offering resources to assist the student physician in regaining academic success. The SSC utilizes a “diagnostic-prescriptive” approach which involves individual assessments, comprehensive interviews, evaluation of data (academic history), creation of interventions and support strategies tailored to each individual student physician, and evaluation of outcomes. The SSC assists in guiding the student physician to faculty, the Academic Affairs department, the learning specialists, tutors, library services, behavioral health specialists and off-site professionals as needed.
When a student physician is referred to the PAR Committee for academic failure or professionalism concerns, the SSC will provide relevant information to the PAR Committee regarding what interventions were recommended to the student physician and the extent to which the student physician pursued those recommendations.
POLICY OWNER:
Associate Dean of Academic Affairs
APPROVAL:
Effective: 09/02/2021
Last Reviewed: 01/06/2026
Review Requirement: 5 Years