Orientation to Teaching Roles and Responsibilities
Purpose
To outline the teaching responsibilities of faculty, non-faculty instructors, residents/fellows who supervise or teach in the undergraduate medical education program.
Overview
The UCSF School of Medicine has procedures in place to ensure that all instructors who teach medical students in core courses/clerkships are prepared for their roles in teaching and assessment.
Definitions:
Non-Faculty Instructors: Graduate students, medical students, and any other instructor who is not a clinical resident, fellow or appointed UCSF faculty.
Principles
- The medical school ensures that the learning objectives for each required learning experience (e.g., course, clerkship) are made known to all instructors who supervise or teach medical students and these instructors are prepared for their roles in teaching and assessment.
- The medical school provides resources to orient non-faculty instructors to their teaching responsibilities, and provides central monitoring of their participation in those opportunities.
- All faculty, residents, and non-faculty instructors with teaching and assessment responsibilities receive annual communications about key policies related to undergraduate medical education.
Policy
- Faculty, residents, and non-faculty instructors receive course/clerkship objectives and graduation competencies, and review key policies before teaching in a specific course/clerkship.
- Faculty, residents, and non-faculty instructors are asked attest to adhering to the key medical student policies and procedures each year. This listing is updated annually by the Associate Dean for Curriculum, Accreditation Manager, and Governance Coordinator. All instructors must attest they will notify the Course and Clerkship Directors if they cannot adhere with the UCSF School of Medicine Duality of Interest: Health Provider and Education Roles Policy.
- Non-Faculty instructors are required to participate in virtual or in-person orientations before teaching in the courses/clerkships. Attendance is monitored by Medical Education course coordinators.
- Additional preparation for clinical and resident teaching is outlined in the Residents as Teachers policy.
- The Center for Faculty Educators teaching development courses and workshops are open to faculty, residents, and non-faculty instructors. Attendance is monitored centrally by the Center for Faculty Educators.
Procedure
Objective and Compliance Attestation Process
1. The Technology Enhanced Education Team manages a process for asking faculty/non-faculty instructors to review and attest to receiving course/clerkship learning objectives, graduation competencies, and key medical education policies related to medical education.
2. The Associate Dean for Curriculum, course and clerkship directors receive non-compliance reports and work individually with faculty members who have not complied to confirm they are still teaching and find out why the faculty member has not responded.
3. The Executive Committee of the curriculum reviews non-compliance reports annually to determine the efficacy of the process.
Didactic Instructors Objectives Attestation Compliance Procedure
- Six weeks prior to the start of a preclinical course, an application queries Ilios for instructors assigned to teach.
- Ilios is searched each week and generates additional attestations to faculty who teach; this continues until the course ends.
Clinical Instructor Objective Attestation (revised 2021). Two cycles for different individuals: July (Residents) and October (Faculty). Each cycle contains four weekly, automated email reminders to non-responders.
- The following individuals are included in the July cycle:
- Trainees in programs in UCSF departments that have core clerkships or required subinternships, all with services where medical students are expected to rotate. Clerkship directors review and confirm which programs to include annually.
- All residents and fellows at UCSF clinical affiliates, all in departments where medical students rotate for core clerkships. (includes Fresno, Highland, Kaiser locations.)
- The following individuals are included in the October cycle:
- All active UCSF faculty and Volunteer Clinical Professors associated with core clerkships and required subinternships in our evaluation systems. Core clerkships are asked to update their faculty lists in our scheduling/evaluation system of record annually in advance of the attestation process. (includes Fresno, VCF.)
- The attestation communications are standardized, and most recent versions of these communications are found in the Policy Attestations Box folder.
Accountable Dean or Director: Associate Dean for Curriculum
Related Policies:
Approval Date and Governing Body: September 10, 2018, Executive Committee
Updated: May 13, 2025
