Conflict of Interest - Physician-Student Personal Relationship Policy

It is the policy of the University College of Medicine – Phoenix 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 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 discussions where that specific student is presented. Additionally, the faculty member may not serve as a primary preceptor for that student in any graded curricular unit*.

Likewise, students at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix who are family members of a faculty member 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 will notify the curricular leader that a conflict of interest exists. 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 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 Associate Dean, Curricular Affairs and Program Evaluation (for years 1 and 2 curricular units) or the Associate Dean, Clinical and Competency Based Education (for years 3 and 4 curricular units), who will ensure the student is paired with an appropriate faculty member for all curricular units.
3. Individuals assessing College of Medicine – Phoenix 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 assessment will not be used for the student. The Office of Student Affairs will alert either the Associate Dean, Curricular Affairs and Program Evaluation (for years 1 and 2 curricular units) or the Associate Dean, Clinical and Competency Based Education (for years 3 and 4 curricular units), who will ensure the student is paired with appropriate faculty for all curricular units.
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 Associate Dean, Student Affairs informing them of the conflict of interest. The Associate Dean, Student Affairs will inform the Associate Dean, Curricular Affairs and Program Evaluation (for years 1 and 2 curricular units) or the Associate Dean, Clinical and Competency Based Education (for years 3 and 4 curricular units) 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).