Non-Involvement of Health Practitioners Policy

The purpose of the Non-Involvement of Providers of Student Health Services in Student Assessment Policy is to articulate the College of Medicine’s stance that health professionals who provide health services to a medical student must not participate  in assessing their academic performance or participating in decisions regarding their promotion or graduation, other than in exceptional circumstances. This policy reinforces the College of Medicine’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion by ensuring that all medical students can access health and wellness services without fear of bias, stigma, or negative repercussions on their academic progress. By clearly separating roles in care provision from those in academic assessment, the policy safeguards against conflicts of interest and fosters fairness, psychological safety, and student and faculty well-being in the learning environment.

This policy ensures that the Undergraduate Medical Education program meets or exceeds the following Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) and Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accreditation standards:

12.5 Providers of Student Health Services/Location of Student Health Records: The health professionals who provide health services, including psychiatric/psychological counselling, to a medical student are not involved in the academic assessment or advancement of the medical student receiving those services, excluding exceptional circumstances. A medical school ensures that medical student health records are maintained in accordance with legal requirements for security, privacy, confidentiality, and accessibility.

*see definitions

This policy applies to all undergraduate students registered in the Doctor of Medicine (MD) program at the University of Saskatchewan at all campuses/ learning sites.

Related policies include: Conflict of Interest During Student Assessment, Student Records Policy, Procedures for Academic Appeal, Health Information Protection Act.

Conflict of Interest: in relation to this policy, a situation in which a health care professional who provides health services to a medical student becomes involved in their academic assessment, promotion, or graduation decisions.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI): refers to the intentional effort to create a learning environment that is fair, respectful, and inclusive of all individuals, recognizing and addressing systemic barriers that may disadvantage students based on identity, background, or personal circumstances.

Course Administrator: a module, course, rotation, or program director responsible for the overall administration of the academic activity.

Health Services: for the purposes of this policy, unless otherwise specified, health services includes all care related to physical and mental health issues, including provision of psychiatric care and psychological counselling. 

All faculty, staff, and preceptors are responsible for upholding the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion by maintaining a respectful environment where students feel supported to access health services and to disclose potential conflicts of interest without fear of stigma or reprisal.

The Associate Dean, Undergraduate Medical Education, is accountable for providing oversight to the overall administration of the Non-Involvement of Providers of Student Health Services in Student Assessment Policy at the College of Medicine. The Academic Director, Undergraduate Medical Education, with the assistance of the staff and Manager of the Undergraduate Medical Education Office, is responsible for the implementation, monitoring, and maintenance of the Non-Involvement of Providers of Student Health Services in Student Assessment Policy.

This includes development and stewardship of the standard operating procedures associated with this policy. It also includes supporting medical students and course, module, and rotation directors as well as preceptors in complying with this policy.

The Student Academic Management Committee is responsible for evaluating, reviewing, and updating this policy every three years.

A. Student Health Services, University of Saskatchewan

No clinician from the Student Health Services, University of Saskatchewan, shall assess a medical student’s performance or participate in decisions regarding their promotion and/or graduation if they have provided health services to the medical student.

B. Office of Student Services, College of Medicine

No clinician from the Office of Student Affairs, College of Medicine, shall assess a medical student’s performance or participate in decisions regarding their promotion and/or graduation if they have provided health services to the medical student.

C. Year Committees, College of Medicine

Medical student promotion and graduation recommendations are made on a case-by-case basis by individual Year Committees to the Student Academic Management Committee within the College of Medicine.

Any member of a Year Committee who has previously provided health services to a medical student whose case is under consideration for promotion or graduation must declare a conflict of interest, recuse themselves from that portion of the meeting, and abstain from commenting or voting upon the individual situation.

Where quorum cannot be obtained due to multiple conflicts of interest, the Associate Dean, Undergraduate Medical Education will temporarily appoint a faculty  proxy  to participate solely in promotion or graduation decisions affected by the conflict.

 The proxy will only be authorized to consider and vote upon promotion or graduation decisions where a conflict of interest was declared. The proxy will be removed from the committee immediately after fulfilling that role.

D. Student Academic Management Committee, College of Medicine

Medical student promotion and graduation decisions are made on a case-by-case basis by the Student Academic Management Committee within the College of Medicine.

Any committee member who has previously provided health services to a medical student whose case is under consideration for promotion or graduation must declare a conflict of interest, recuse themselves from the portion of the meeting, and abstain from commenting or voting upon the individual situation.

Where quorum cannot be obtained due to multiple conflicts of interest, the Associate Dean, Undergraduate Medical Education or Academic Director will temporarily appoint a faculty  proxy  to participate solely in promotion or graduation decisions affected by the conflict.

 The proxy will only be authorized to consider and vote upon promotion or graduation decisions where a conflict of interest was declared. The proxy will be removed from the committee immediately after fulfilling that role.

E. Conflict of Interest in Academic Assessment

E.1 Proactive Disclosure

Proactive disclosure processes enables students and preceptors to identify and address potential conflicts without fear of stigma, judgment, or academic penalty. Open communication is encouraged, and the College recognizes that students’ comfort in accessing health services is a critical component of well-being and inclusion.

The Undergraduate Medical Education Office informs preceptors of the Non-Involvement of Providers of Student Health Services in Student Assessment Policy on an annual basis via email to faculty and at time of orientation to academic leadership roles. Preceptors are expected to review the student lists provided to them by the Undergraduate Medical Education Officewell in advance of assessing medical students in courses, modules, or rotations. Any preceptor who has previously provided health services to a medical student should proactively disclose any perceived or actual conflict of interest pertaining to medical student assessments to the course administrator. The specific nature of the conflict does not need to be disclosed.

Medical students are expected to review individual course outlines well in advance of being assessed by a preceptor in a course, module, or rotation. Any medical student who has previously received health services from a physician who may be assessing them should proactively disclose any perceived or actual conflict of interest pertaining to academic assessment to the course administrator. The exact nature of the conflict does not need to be disclosed.

Documentation of any declared conflict of interest is maintained securely and confidentially by UGME administrative staff. For assessment formats where subjectivity may influence outcomes, the course administrator will arrange for an alternative assessor if a conflict of interest is identified.

For objective forms of assessment such standardized tests—the assessment shall proceed as planned, even if a conflict of interest has been disclosed. These formats minimize subjectivity and ensure consistency across assessors.

E.2. Reactive Disclosure / Exceptional Circumstances                     

While every effort is made to prevent  health care providers from participating in the academic assessment or advancement of medical students,  exceptional circumstances may arise. Should a student or faculty identify such a conflict, the faculty MUST recuse themself from further assessment of the student.  

In the situation that a preceptor or medical student recognizes a conflict of interest during supervision/assessment in the clinical setting, then the preceptor should arrange alternative clinical supervision as soon as is feasible to ensure student and patient safety, and inform the Module/Course Director (Pre-clerkship) or Rotation Coordinator/ course administrator (Clerkship) as soon as possible.

If a Medical student  identifies a perceived or actual conflict of interest during the assessment, they must inform the preceptor immediately.  The preceptor shall stop the assessment. Both parties must notify the course administrator

In the situation, for example in a rural learning site, where a student presents for health care services to a preceptor with whom they are being assessed in a longitudinal fashion, when feasible the preceptor should arrange for an alternate care provider to avoid a conflict of interest. 

In an urgent or emergent situation, if an alternate health care provider cannot be arranged, the preceptor should provide the necessary care to the student.  If feasible, ongoing assessment should subsequently be provided by a different preceptor. 

If another preceptor is not available for ongoing assessment, the preceptor should inform the SLIC Director, Associate Dean UGME and/or Academic Director who will work with preceptor and student to determine if the situation has resulted in a conflict of interest and to make alternative arrangements for assessment, if required.  

To protect student confidentiality, details of the nature of the health issues will not be disclosed in this process.

E.3 Post-Assessment Disclosure

Medical students who identify a perceived or actual conflict of interest after having been assessed in a course, module, or rotation will be assigned the grade submitted by the preceptor. If the medical student is dissatisfied with their assigned grades, then the student may request an appeal of the grade following the college-level Procedures for Academic Appeal.

F. Student Health Records

Student personal health information is governed by provincial legislation governing privacy and confidentiality of patient health records (the “Health Information Privacy Act”) as well as university-level processes designed to protect student privacy.

The Undergraduate Medical Education Office shall store any health-related information voluntarily submitted by a medical student in their individual file in Banner.  Access to the online files is restricted to administrative staff in the UGME in accordance with the Student Records Policy.

This policy will be housed on the College of Medicine Sharepoint, in the UGME Admin common folder.  It will also be housed in SAMC Sharepoint folder. 

This policy is posted on College of Medicine website, under the Policies tab of the students dropdown menu, as well as the policies tab of the Faculty Dropdown menu. 

Any updates approved by SAMC are distributed to the Year Chairs and all admin coordinators/support staff responsible for College of Medicine students across the province, who will distribute it to all faculty leads.  It will annually be distributed to faculty by the Director, Faculty and Learning Environment.

Reports of non-compliance with this policy are reviewed by the Associate Dean, Undergraduate Medical Education, within the College of Medicine. The process involves a confidential review of relevant situation, determination of whether a conflict occurred, and implementation of appropriate actions to uphold fairness and integrity. Student health details are not disclosed during this process.

Academic Director, UME
Phone: 306-966-2750
Email: medicine.ugme@usask.ca