Advice: Failed Clinical Medicine Course for "Ethics & Professionalism"

[Ronaldo123837]

Hi everyone,

I passed all my M1 core courses. However, I recently was failed from my clinical medicine course for professionalism. This occurred because of the following:

I missed 2 non-graded self-reflection forums, and one weekly quiz. For the last self reflection forum, I panicked after I missed the deadline at night, and sent an email to the tech representative associated with the forum the morning after, asking them to reopen the forum and stating I had a tech issue when submitting it.

The course directors did an investigation with the tech company and found I did not access the forum the night before. Called me an unethical liar and an incidence of academic dishonesty, and flunked me from the course.

I admitted I made a mistake and panicked, while stressed before the final exam. At the same time, I feel like the punishment is very severe as this will show on my transcript as P-Remediated and on my MSPE too. I never came late or missed a single mandatory session all year, and was very professional in all in-person sessions. Also have not failed any of the core coursework.

Just wondering if you all think its worth trying to go through the appeal/administrative process and pleaing for a less severe punishment, or if I should take this on the chin and go through with the remediation and having it on my transcript and MSPE.


Any advice would be very appreciated!

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[Ronaldo123837]

To add on, for the first reflection forum they opened it up for me the morning after and I quickly completed it in ~15 minutes. Second one the tech representative opened it for me after I emailed them and I completed it the morning after the due date. But basically told them I had a tech problem the night before when I didn't and just forgot to submit it.

Either way I admitted immediately that I didn't have a tech issue and forgot to submit it. But wrote in my email to the tech person that I did.

I understand the need for probity in medicine and have learned my lesson. I feel like the punishment is really severe though for a non-graded self reflection forum the week before our final exams.

 

[Goro]

I missed 2 non-graded self-reflection forums, and one weekly quiz.

I suspect that you didn't fail just because of the dishonest message to the tech.

Rather, you have a pattern of unprofessional behavior by not doing things you're supposed to do.

Instead on being honest, your "panic" led you do the wrong thing.

So, if you were my advisee, I'd tell you to not waste your time or that of the Professionalism Committee, man up, and take it on the chin. And remember that actions have consequences.

When you do something wrong; admit it.

You would fail a rotation if you lied to a preceptor.

You would get fired from a residency if you lied to your attending.

There's a reason why my clinical colleagues take professionalism seriously.

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

Hi everyone,

I passed all my M1 core courses. However, I recently was failed from my clinical medicine course for professionalism. This occurred because of the following:

I missed 2 non-graded self-reflection forums, and one weekly quiz. For the last self reflection forum, I panicked after I missed the deadline at night, and sent an email to the tech representative associated with the forum the morning after, asking them to reopen the forum and stating I had a tech issue when submitting it.

The course directors did an investigation with the tech company and found I did not access the forum the night before. Called me an unethical liar and an incidence of academic dishonesty, and flunked me from the course.

I admitted I made a mistake and panicked, while stressed before the final exam. At the same time, I feel like the punishment is very severe as this will show on my transcript as P-Remediated and on my MSPE too. I never came late or missed a single mandatory session all year, and was very professional in all in-person sessions. Also have not failed any of the core coursework.

Just wondering if you all think its worth trying to go through the appeal/administrative process and pleaing for a less severe punishment, or if I should take this on the chin and go through with the remediation and having it on my transcript and MSPE.


Any advice would be very appreciated!

So, I'll preface this by saying that I was the type of student who procrastinated and turned things in last minute. I can remember my fair share of times where I had turned in assignments after the deadline, so trust me when I say that I've been there. At the same time, I also think this is an eye opener for you. Appealing to the committee will be of no use because you not only had a pattern of unprofessionalism by not completing assignments, but you also lied and they found out. This is where the magic saying of "You aren't sorry about the situation and what you did, you are sorry you got caught" comes from. Now I will say I think it's extremely ****ty for them to have such little faith in their students to actually have IT investigate the validity of your claim. I think it's petty and I wouldn't waste my breath or time if a student had reached out with your email asking to turn it in the day after, but that's a personal opinion of mine... The reality of the matter is that you knew what they expected of you and you got caught doing what you knew was wrong. This is a wake up call for you. Learn from this and stay under the radar the rest of your medical education. When it's time to apply for residency own up to it and address how you have grown and matured since event. Best of luck!

 

[LucidSplash]

So, I'll preface this by saying that I was the type of student who procrastinated and turned things in last minute. I can remember my fair share of times where I had turned in assignments after the deadline, so trust me when I say that I've been there. At the same time, I also think this is an eye opener for you. Appealing to the committee will be of no use because you not only had a pattern of unprofessionalism by not completing assignments, but you also lied and they found out. This is where the magic saying of "You aren't sorry about the situation and what you did, you are sorry you got caught" comes from. Now I will say I think it's extremely ****ty for them to have such little faith in their students to actually have IT investigate the validity of your claim. I think it's petty and I wouldn't waste my breath or time if a student had reached out with your email asking to turn it in the day after, but that's a personal opinion of mine... The reality of the matter is that you knew what they expected of you and you got caught doing what you knew was wrong. This is a wake up call for you. Learn from this and stay under the radar the rest of your medical education. When it's time to apply for residency own up to it and address how you have grown and matured since event. Best of luck!

Usually people get caught when their 5th or 6th grandmother dies and someone finally stops believing the excuse. I would suspect that this wasn’t the first time the OP used an excuse about tech failure. When someone is repeatedly dishonest like this you might let it slide a couple of times but eventually after several events, do the absolutely basic work of checking to see if there actually was a tech failure.

So I suspect this is less “pettiness” than it is calling a bluff after repeated bluffs. One bluff might be excused, multiple bluffs is a pattern of unprofessional behavior.

Agree with Goro. OP needs to take it on the chin. Appealing won’t do any good because OP is guilty as charged. OP hasn’t been dismissed from school, they failed the course, which is probably the least severe consequence available for the infraction.

OP admit you acted poorly, make steps to change behavior and prevent situations with “panic” again, and demonstrate rehabilitation and understanding of consequences for actions.

For everyone else, be aware that it is absolutely possible to track everything involved with electronic assignments and media. It is not even really an “advanced” IT capability or skill at this point. Be aware and act accordingly.

 

[operaman]

Agreeing with the others. Nothing really to appeal here, seems pretty cut and dry. And they definitely investigated since it wasn’t the first time you’d missed the deadline. Plus it’s a rather flimsy excuse - people with tech issues call for help the night before when they’re actually having the issue, they don’t just go to bed and plan to email in the morning asking for an extension. That or they email it the night before to their professor saying they’re having trouble submitting via the website but here it is because you don’t want to miss the deadline. I would have checked up on the story too because it just doesn’t hold water.

Truth is, if you learn from this and never make a similar mistake again, you may have saved your career. Lying in residency is a fast way to get canned - much harder thing to recover from than a remediated preclinical course.

I’d also add this: what do you think gets more doctors in trouble with their hospitals or licensing boards or specialty boards, gross malpractice and incompetence, or failure to complete required tasks and paperwork? Docs are notoriously bad about it and the administrative stuff is annoying, but you gotta play by the rules or you start getting into big trouble.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Honestly bro this is literally the best possible outcome. You'd probably get booted from my school for doing this. I don't know, because nobody will try. We get in trouble for pirating textbooks (nobody does it).

I'm not trying to be judgmental, I'm just saying I don't think you realize how bad this could have been. Literally my only goal of M3 is making sure I don't get any professionalism marks. It's a (career) death sentence

 

[Tenk]

You must have really pissed off that IT dude for him to take the time and back check the logs.

 

[mrbreakfast]

Agree with everyone else. You are lucky you were not expelled.

Realize that everything in medical school is for training, and the number one thing you learn during intern year is that if you make a mistake, immediately report it or own up to it, don't try covering it up. Despite that, every year there are stories of people trying to cover up mistakes they made, and causing substantially more harm to patients.

Consider this a lesson, and a very lucky one at that.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I agree with what others said. You were failed for being a dishonest liar, because you were a dishonest liar. Regardless of whether I think you deserve to fail for this (and I happen to think you do deserve it), all that matters is what your professor thinks. They are well within their prerogative to fail you for gross unprofessionalism in a professionalism/ethics course. Learn the lesson rather than wasting time on an appeal that won't work. PSGWSP.

Honestly, your best chance here to mitigate the damage is to go above and beyond in showing your remorse. Take time to meet with the professor, apologize profusely, and accept the punishment. For the rest of your medical school career, turn in every assignment early. Show up to every shift in your clinical rotations early. Be the spitting image of professionalism. Then meet with your dean in the summer prior to MS4 and outline all that you have done to show your growth from this mistake and ask that this be included in your MSPE.

Hopefully it goes without saying, but this swings the other way--if you have any other professionalism issues going forward, something that others might get away with like habitually showing up 5 minutes late to shifts or missing a lecture while on rotations is going to get amplified for you. Regardless of whether or not it's fair, you've got a spotlight shining on you for the rest of med school, so act like someone is watching you at all times.

 

[operaman]

I agree with what others said. You were failed for being a dishonest liar, because you were a dishonest liar. Regardless of whether I think you deserve to fail for this (and I happen to think you do deserve it), all that matters is what your professor thinks. They are well within their prerogative to fail you for gross unprofessionalism in a professionalism/ethics course. Learn the lesson rather than wasting time on an appeal that won't work. PSGWSP.

Honestly, your best chance here to mitigate the damage is to go above and beyond in showing your remorse. Take time to meet with the professor, apologize profusely, and accept the punishment. For the rest of your medical school career, turn in every assignment early. Show up to every shift in your clinical rotations early. Be the spitting image of professionalism. Then meet with your dean in the summer prior to MS4 and outline all that you have done to show your growth from this mistake and ask that this be included in your MSPE.

Hopefully it goes without saying, but this swings the other way--if you have any other professionalism issues going forward, something that others might get away with like habitually showing up 5 minutes late to shifts or missing a lecture while on rotations is going to get amplified for you. Regardless of whether or not it's fair, you've got a spotlight shining on you for the rest of med school, so act like someone is watching you at all times.

Just wanted to second all of this. Especially the fact you’ve got the eye on you now. The seemingly small thing that may have gotten you a slap on the wrist before may now get you expelled completely. Just takes one clerkship director sending a peeved email about you to the dean’s office and now it’s “well there he goes again!”

Be over and above unimpeachable for the next 3 years at least. Your career literally depends on it. Your goal from here on out needs to be when the deans see you in the hall at the end of M4, one of them asks “are you a student here?”

Under the radar my friend!