Legal Ramifications of Online Clerkships?

[j1sulliv]

I'm about to start my senior clerkship, and due to the COVID19 pandemic our school is offering us two options: (1) delay our senior clerkship and graduate several months late, (2) begin our clerkship online, and graduate punctually (no agreement has been made about how long this online portion will last, basically until the pandemic settles down).

As far as I know, online clerkships have still not been approved by any state medical boards, and based on my brief consultation with google.lawyer, switching to online education is grounds for a medical school's accreditation status to be reviewed by the FSMB. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm sure someone out there is more knowledgable than I am about the legal minutia, so I come here humbly requesting you guys and gals share your wisdom. More specifically, my questions are:

1. Could a university revoke degrees in the future if they change their assessment about the legitimacy/equivalence of online clerkships?
2. Could students undertaking online clerkships be subject later on to higher malpractice insurance rates?
3. Could students performing online clerkships be at a disadvantage when applying for residency, e..g, compared to students coming from med schools that have cancelled rotations until after the pandemic passes?
4. Is it possible that na individual state medical board will opt to refuse degrees obtained with the help of online clerkships?

All the best, and thank you much.

- JS

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[Mass Effect]

I recognize that some of you haven't been in the hospital since all this started, but trust me when I tell you that this is an EXTREMELY unique situation and not a single person knows most things in a post-COVID world.

It is highly unlikely any of the things you mentioned will happen.

 

[LutGholein]

Just so we’re clear this is a U.S school telling you that they would delay your graduation?

I'm about to start my senior clerkship, and due to the COVID19 pandemic our school is offering us two options: (1) delay our senior clerkship and graduate several months late, (2) begin our clerkship online, and graduate punctually (no agreement has been made about how long this online portion will last, basically until the pandemic settles down).

As far as I know, online clerkships have still not been approved by any state medical boards, and based on my brief consultation with google.lawyer, switching to online education is grounds for a medical school's accreditation status to be reviewed by the FSMB. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm sure someone out there is more knowledgable than I am about the legal minutia, so I come here humbly requesting you guys and gals share your wisdom. More specifically, my questions are:

1. Could a university revoke degrees in the future if they change their assessment about the legitimacy/equivalence of online clerkships?
2. Could students undertaking online clerkships be subject later on to higher malpractice insurance rates?
3. Could students performing online clerkships be at a disadvantage when applying for residency, e..g, compared to students coming from med schools that have cancelled rotations until after the pandemic passes?
4. Is it possible that na individual state medical board will opt to refuse degrees obtained with the help of online clerkships?

All the best, and thank you much.

- JS

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

My understanding is the LCME/COCA have approved online rotations for electives, and 2 weeks of a core rotation can be online as long as there are eventually 2 weeks of face to face patient interaction.

Just about every single school is doing some form of online clerkships right now.

 

[Goro]

I'm about to start my senior clerkship, and due to the COVID19 pandemic our school is offering us two options: (1) delay our senior clerkship and graduate several months late, (2) begin our clerkship online, and graduate punctually (no agreement has been made about how long this online portion will last, basically until the pandemic settles down).

As far as I know, online clerkships have still not been approved by any state medical boards, and based on my brief consultation with google.lawyer, switching to online education is grounds for a medical school's accreditation status to be reviewed by the FSMB. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm sure someone out there is more knowledgable than I am about the legal minutia, so I come here humbly requesting you guys and gals share your wisdom. More specifically, my questions are:

1. Could a university revoke degrees in the future if they change their assessment about the legitimacy/equivalence of online clerkships?
2. Could students undertaking online clerkships be subject later on to higher malpractice insurance rates?
3. Could students performing online clerkships be at a disadvantage when applying for residency, e..g, compared to students coming from med schools that have cancelled rotations until after the pandemic passes?
4. Is it possible that na individual state medical board will opt to refuse degrees obtained with the help of online clerkships?

All the best, and thank you much.

- JS

You learn your craft in residency, not med school. I believe that your concerns are unnecessary.

 

[j1sulliv]

Just so we’re clear this is a U.S school telling you that they would delay your graduation?

I'm at Peking University in Beijing. My Chinese classmates have been back in the wards for three weeks already. I escaped to California during the COVID outbreak in China, so now I am stuck here in my second COVID quarantine, banned (ironically) from returning to my school in Beijing.

Here's the more in depth story if you're interested. If not it's fine, no hard feelings... Two weeks ago, the university informed certain foreign students (American, Thai and British) that the medical college will be requiring us to start and maybe even finish our senior clerkships online (48 weeks x 40 hours per week). The extent of this clerkship that will be carried out online will strictly depend on when China's travel ban against foreigners is lifted (which could really be any length of time). We were really concerned, naturally, that we wouldn't benefit much, if at all, from a clerkship that didn't involve direct student-to-patient interaction, so we refused this style of clerkship, and demanded that we not start rotations until we can return to Beijing.

The medical school then gave us two options, to wait until we return and accept that our graduation will be delayed until the next academic year (May 2022), or to accept the online clerkship and graduate on time (May 2021). Chinese diplomacy. I'm curious about the legal implications in the US for this reason, because it could play a role in deciding which option is the least terrible. I'm more than willing to sacrifice a year at this point in my life, especially if it means not having to be paranoid later on about legal issues concerning my diploma or licensing.

Thanks to everyone for their advice, you've been very helpful



PS: I asked this question in the MD thread because I felt people browsing in these parts of the boards would have a better overall insight into US legal matters than those browsing in the foreign students thread.

 

[deleted480308]

I'm about to start my senior clerkship, and due to the COVID19 pandemic our school is offering us two options: (1) delay our senior clerkship and graduate several months late, (2) begin our clerkship online, and graduate punctually (no agreement has been made about how long this online portion will last, basically until the pandemic settles down).

As far as I know, online clerkships have still not been approved by any state medical boards, and based on my brief consultation with google.lawyer, switching to online education is grounds for a medical school's accreditation status to be reviewed by the FSMB. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm sure someone out there is more knowledgable than I am about the legal minutia, so I come here humbly requesting you guys and gals share your wisdom. More specifically, my questions are:

1. Could a university revoke degrees in the future if they change their assessment about the legitimacy/equivalence of online clerkships?
2. Could students undertaking online clerkships be subject later on to higher malpractice insurance rates?
3. Could students performing online clerkships be at a disadvantage when applying for residency, e..g, compared to students coming from med schools that have cancelled rotations until after the pandemic passes?
4. Is it possible that na individual state medical board will opt to refuse degrees obtained with the help of online clerkships?

All the best, and thank you much.

- JS

US school?

 

[LutGholein]

I'm at Peking University in Beijing. My Chinese classmates have been back in the wards for three weeks already. I escaped to California during the COVID outbreak in China, so now I am stuck here in my second COVID quarantine, banned (ironically) from returning to my school in Beijing.

Here's the more in depth story if you're interested. If not it's fine, no hard feelings... Two weeks ago, the university informed certain foreign students (American, Thai and British) that the medical college will be requiring us to start and maybe even finish our senior clerkships online (48 weeks x 40 hours per week). The extent of this clerkship that will be carried out online will strictly depend on when China's travel ban against foreigners is lifted (which could really be any length of time). We were really concerned, naturally, that we wouldn't benefit much, if at all, from a clerkship that didn't involve direct student-to-patient interaction, so we refused this style of clerkship, and demanded that we not start rotations until we can return to Beijing.

The medical school then gave us two options, to wait until we return and accept that our graduation will be delayed until the next academic year (May 2022), or to accept the online clerkship and graduate on time (May 2021). Chinese diplomacy. I'm curious about the legal implications in the US for this reason, because it could play a role in deciding which option is the least terrible. I'm more than willing to sacrifice a year at this point in my life, especially if it means not having to be paranoid later on about legal issues concerning my diploma or licensing.

Thanks to everyone for their advice, you've been very helpful



PS: I asked this question in the MD thread because I felt people browsing in these parts of the boards would have a better overall insight into US legal matters than those browsing in the foreign students thread.

I understand the anxiety that comes with this entire process let alone in the middle of a pandemic and while I’m not an authority on what’s the right course of action for you, I will say that schools in the US are facing the online issue but to my knowledge no US MD school has entertained the notion of delay graduation and I extremely doubt that it’ll impact our future prospects for residency. I think the difficulty for you might be more along the lines of securing US clinical experience this year given that US students are not allowed in hospitals currently.

 

[rhodesfb17]

I’d delay a year so I’m trying to match during a more normal cycle if I was in this position.