Conflict of Interest - Physician-Student Personal Relationship Policy

It is the policy of the University College of Medicine – Phoenix (COM-P) that faculty and residents (hereafter for purposes of this policy referred to as “faculty”) who are family members of a medical student or have a personal relationship with a medical student that would influence the student’s evaluation, must not be involved in the academic assessment or promotion of the medical student. Importantly, these faculty members must recuse themselves from completing any assessments on said student and must remove themselves from committee meetings where that specific student is discussed. Additionally, the faculty member may not serve as a primary preceptor for that student in any graded course*.

Likewise, students at COM-P who are family members or have a personal relationship with a faculty member may not be involved in the evaluation of said faculty member.

Faculty are responsible to disclose any potential conflict of interest that may impact the teacher/learner paradigm by following the process below. Students may also disclose any potential conflict. 

Process

1. At the beginning of any portion of the curriculum that an academic assessment of a medical student may occur, faculty will review their assigned students. If a conflict of interest exists, faculty must notify the course* director. Reassignment will occur to avoid the conflict.
2. All students will have the opportunity to proactively identify potential conflicts of interest with faculty on the annual policy sign-off (see Annual Sign Off by Student Policy). If a conflict is identified by a student, the Office of Student Affairs will alert either the dean, foundational curriculum (for years 1 and 2) or the dean, clinical curriculum (for years 3 and 4)/or designees, who will ensure the student is paired with an appropriate faculty member for all courses*. If the student is to rotate at the site where the conflict exists, the student will not be supervised or assessed by said faculty.
3. Individuals assessing COM-P students must acknowledge whether a conflict of interest with the student being assessed exists or does not exist on the assessment form. If a conflict of interest exists, the faculty will not be able to  proceed with the assessment. 
4. If at any time an individual assessing a student or a student identifies a conflict of interest that was undiscovered through other processes, the individual shall contact the dean, student affairs/or designee informing them of the conflict of interest. The dean, student affairs/or designee will inform the dean, foundational curriculum (for years 1 and 2) or the dean, clinical curriculum (for years 3 and 4)/or designees so that arrangements can be made to pair the student with an alternate faculty member (e.g., case-based instruction facilitator, Doctoring mentor, clerkship faculty member).
   
   Course* = Any component of the curriculum where a grade is earned.