Post-Clerkship Phase Attendance, Participation and Absence policy

PURPOSE
To outline the attendance, participation, and absences for the courses in the post-clerkship curriculum phase. Learning sessions depend on the engagement and participation of the students to maximize the value and effectiveness of learning sessions. This policy applies to (s)electives taken during the clerkship phase.

AUDIENCE
Post-clerkship phase medical students, faculty, and post-clerkship phase departmental course coordinators.
For the Transition to Residency Course (T2R) this policy goes into effect with academic year 2026-2027 (May 2027 delivery of T2R)

LCME STANDARD
8.8 Monitoring Student Time
12.4 Student Access to Health Care Services

POLICY

DEFINITIONS:

  • Emergent Absence: Being away from clinical/course activities due to an illness or a personal or family emergency
  • Required Clinical Experience: A learning event that includes interacting with patients a clinical setting such as outpatient clinic or inpatient units and is required as part of a course
  • Required Clinical Experience Absence: Not being at Required Clinical Experience for a continuous amount of time equal to, or greater than, 4 hours
    • This could be for any reason, including but not limited to academic obligations such as CPX, longitudinal course elements such as Doctoring 4, Area of Scholarly Concentration activities, and non-academic obligations such as interviews and conferences
  • Required Didactic Experience: A required learning event such as a synchronous small group session, simulation-based training, a session titled didactic, or similar learning event excluding clinical experiences that requires attendance on a specific date/time 
  • Required Didactic Experience Absence: Missing half or more of a required didactic experience, after accounting for time allocated to any attendance grace period and student breaks
  • Time Away: Not being at a required experience for a period of time less than half of its length (fewer than four hours for a required clinical experience and less than half of a didactic)
  • Unexcused Absence: Being away from clinical/course activities without appropriate notification or without it being an emergent absence
  1. Students are expected to arrive on time, fully engage, and act professionally.
  2. Each course syllabus and the LMS (where applicable) will have full details regarding required attendance activities. 
  3. University holidays are not guaranteed off from course responsibilities. Check with your Course Director(s) and review the course syllabus for a complete schedule and list of rotation expectations.
  4. Students must send notifications for time away (see Definitions) and get prior approval for an absence (see Definitions) unless it is emergent. (See Procedure for notification instructions)
  5. There may be some required course activities from which a student cannot request a non-emergent absence (e.g., orientation); these will be outlined in the course syllabus. 
  6. Time away or an absence (see Definitions) may have make-up work assigned at the discretion of the Course Director.
    1. The ability to make up required clinical experiences will vary by rotational capacity and may occur during school holidays or school breaks.
    2. Making up required clinical experiences does not remove absences from the student record.
  7. Time away or absences (see Definitions) that result in students being unable to meet the learning objectives of the course will require the student to complete additional work to achieve all objectives or repeat the course.
  8. Students must not miss more than 0.5 days/week on average in a course without Course Director approval. Increased absence allowance is at the discretion of the Course Director(s). 
  9. For students with educational accommodations: Accommodation for occasional absences allows students to exceed the permitted number of absences; however, it does not exempt them from the responsibility of making-up missed clinical hours or other educational activities. 
  10. Students are expected to submit an absence notification (see Procedure) when they plan to be away from educational activities for any observed religious holidays that do not coincide with university holidays.

PROCEDURE

  1. Notification of Time Away from a required clinical experience
    • Students must notify (e.g., email, tigertext, etc.) their clinical teams and Course Coordinator of time away that is less than 4 hours (e.g., appointments) that conflict with their course experience as soon as they are scheduled.  
  2. Notification of an anticipated required clinical experience absence
    1. Students must notify and request an absence from the Course Coordinator as soon as an absence is anticipated, and no later than two weeks in advance of the absence request date or earlier as specified in the course syllabus (
    2. Absences must be approved by the Course Director(s) or Course Coordinator. 
    3. Students must notify their teams of all approved absences as soon as they are approved or known. If any issues are encountered, students should inform the Course Director(s).
  3. Notification of required didactic experience absence
    1. Students must notify and request an absence from the Course Coordinator as soon as an absence is anticipated, and no later than two weeks in advance of the absence request date or earlier as specified in the course syllabus.  
      • For Transition to Residency, this communication occurs through the submission of the Absence Request Form. The link to the Absence Request Form is on the course syllabus on the course LMS.
    2. Absences must be approved by the Course Director(s) or Course Coordinator.
  4. Notification of Emergent Issues
    1. Students must notify (e.g., email, tigertext, phone) their clinical teams (if applicable), Course Director(s), and Course Coordinator of their emergency as soon as possible.
    2. T2R students must complete the Absence Request Form as soon as possible, no later than 24-hours after the emergent issue. The link to the Absence Request Form is on the course syllabus on the course LMS.

RESPONSIBILITY
Course Director(s) and Course Coordinators

REFERENCES
UC Davis School of Medicine Bylaws and Regulations, Regulation 60: Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Medicine

RELATED POLICIES
Clerkship Attendance, Participation, and Absence Policy
Coursework and Professionalism Remediation Policy
Professionalism Policy

POLICY OWNER
Committee on Educational Policy

REVIEWED BY
Curriculum Enrichment Advisory Committee
Committee on Educational Policy*
Post-clerkship Curriculum Manager
Post-clerkship Phase Director

REVIEWED DATE and REVIEW CYCLE
April 2026; 2-year review cycle

* Indicates the Policy Owner