General Policies & Procedures: Standing and Promotion Policy

University of Minnesota Medical School (UMMS)
Graduate Medical Education (GME) Administration

Purpose
Each training program is structured to assure that trainees assume increasing levels of responsibility commensurate with individual progress in experience, skill, knowledge, and judgment.

The term of the University of Minnesota Resident/Fellow Agreement is one year.  However, candidates accepting appointments have an expectation that they will be allowed to complete their training having shown satisfactory progression in meeting the training requirements of their program.  The following policy outlines the considerations to take in to account when promoting trainees to the next level. 

Resident/Fellow Standing
A trainee whose performance conforms to established evaluation criteria in a consistent and satisfactory manner will be considered to be in “good standing” with the program and institution.  Misconduct, failure to comply with the policies and procedures governing the program or unsatisfactory performance based on one or more evaluations may adversely affect the trainees standing in the program.  In these cases, the program will make an effort at remediation as outlined in the Disciplinary/Grievance Policy located in the Institution Manual.

Promotion
After satisfactory completion of each year of GME experience, as attested to by the program director and department chair, a resident/fellow in good standing may be promoted to the next level of training subject to the terms, limitations and conditions described in this document and the Resident/Fellow Agreement. 

Promotion to the next level of training is determined by the program and the Sponsoring Institution.  The decision to promote is dependent on several factors, which include, but are not limited to:

• satisfactory completion of all training requirements
• satisfactory trainee performance
• documented competence commensurate with level of training
• successful completion and passing of the USMLE Step 3, COMLEX, etc. prior to entering the PGY-3 level
• full compliance with all terms of the Resident/Fellow Agreement
• continuation of the Sponsoring Institution and program ACGME accreditation

A trainee who is on probation may be promoted at the discretion of the program director and department chair.  If the decision to promote is made, the probationary status remains in effect until the terms of the remediation agreement are met. 

Reviewed: 3.12