Policy Portal

Administrative Policy: Academic

COM – Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE)

Policy Number: 3349-AC-416
Effective Date: 03/15/2019
Updated: 06/27/2023
Reviewed:
Responsible Department: Medical Education, College of Medicine
Approval Authority: Dean, College of Medicine
Responsible Office: Office of the Dean and Medical Education, College of Medicine

A. Purpose

The purpose of this Policy is to specify the process for preparing the Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE). This process was developed in conjunction with LCME elements 11.4 and 11.6.

LCME requires a medical school “provides a [MSPE] required for the residency application of a medical student to align with the AAMC/ERAS residency application timeline” and further, that it “has policies and procedures in place that permit a medical student to review and to challenge the student’s educational records, including the [MSPE], if the student considers the information contained therein to be inaccurate, misleading, or inappropriate.”

B. Scope

The College of Medicine prepares a MSPE for all fourth-year medical students, regardless of whether the student is participating in the residency match.

C. Policy Statement

  1. The MSPE is a summary letter of evaluation intended to provide residency program directors with an honest and objective summary of a student’s salient experiences, attributes, and academic performance. The MSPE is prepared following standards set by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) in the Guide to the Preparation of the Medical Student Performance Evaluation and the revised Recommendations of the AAMC MSPE Task Force.The MSPE is the College of Medicine’s letter of evaluation, not a letter of recommendation, and is the property and responsibility of NEOMED. The Group of Student Affairs Committee on Student Affairs (COSA) MSPE Effective Practices Working Group has released new guidance and an adapted template for addressing COVID-19 related curricular, evaluative, and other changes in the MSPE. The new COVID-19-specific guidance emphasizes clarity over uniformity in describing the impact(s) of the pandemic on the applicant’s academic experience, using the 2016 MSPE Task Force recommendations as the foundation.
  2. The MSPE is the College of Medicine’s letter of evaluation, not a letter of recommendation, and is the property and responsibility of NEOMED.
  3. MSPE policy and procedures are determined by an MSPE work group led by the Assistant Dean of Students (ADS) for the College of Medicine. Work group membership includes representatives from the office of the registrar, the office of information technology, and the office of medical education with support from   the M3 and M4 curriculum coordinators.
  4. The MSPE includes the following sections:
    1. Identifying Information: Student’s name and statement verifying they are a fourth-year medical student at NEOMED, in addition to listing acquired advanced degrees and/or enrollment in pathway programs. Optional information identified in this section include preferred pronouns
    2. Notable Accomplishments: Students submit a brief description of up to three achievements, activities, or other personal information. Students are provided with examples of notable accomplishments and are asked to submit their three bulleted items to the ADS in early-June, along with a copy of their Curriculum Vitae.  The student submissions, along with the student’s CV, are reviewed and the ADS develops the final version of the MSPE.
    3. Academic History: Information contained in the Academic History section is  provided by the office of the registrar through a standardized report and includes  the following:
      1. Matriculation Date – The date the student first matriculated at NEOMED
      2. Graduation Date – The date the student is expected to graduate from NEOMED
      3. Interruptions in Education: The MSPE must include documentation of approved leaves of absence for personal, medical, academic, or administrative reasons.
        1. For students with no interruptions in education or adverse action the following statement is included “(Student Name) was not required to repeat any coursework during his medical education.
        2. Interruptions in education are reported using the following standard language:
          1. (Student Name) took a (Persona, Medical, Academic, Enrichment) Leave of Absence from (LOA begin date) to (LOA return date).
      4. Repeated Coursework: Information about repeated or failed course work, including a USMLE Step failure, is reported in this section using the following standardized language. For example:
        1. (Student Name) failed the (course) and successfully passed the remediation exam.
        2. (Student Name) failed Step (1, 2CK) of the the United States Medical Licensing Examination and successfully passed the exam prior to entering the (academic year).
        3. (Student Name) failed Step (1, 2CK) of the United States Medical Licensing Examination and was required to repeat the (academic year repeated).
      5. Adverse actions: If the Committee on Academic and Professional Progress (CAPP) renders an adverse action (e.g. academic probation, professionalism probation), the MSPE must disclose these adverse action(s). In cases where adverse actions are rendered following the release of the MSPE, the College of Medicine will amend the MSPE and will re-upload within the ERAS system. In cases where adverse actions are rendered following a residency position match, the College of Medicine will notify the student’s program director and provide details regarding the incident that warranted the adverse action.
        1. For students with no adverse action the following statement is included:
          1. (Student Name) was not the recipient of any adverse action(s) by the medical school or its parent institution.
        2. Any formal disciplinary actions taken against a student are reported in this section. The language for reporting adverse actions is drafted by NEOMED’s General Counsel.
      6. Class Rank: Class rank is included on the MSPE for those students in the top quartile of the class at the end of the M3 year. Exact class rank is only reported for students in the top 10% of the class. All others in the top 25% are reported only as the quartile rank.  Class rank information is provided by the office of the registrar after all M3 clerkship grades have been received.
      7. Membership in Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society (junior year selection or senior year selection) and/or membership in the Virtuous Healer’s Honor Society is noted in this section
    4. Academic Progress: The academic progress section includes standard language about the College of Medicine professional performance standards, preclinical and clinical curriculum. This standard language is approved by the Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education.
    5. Professional Performance: This section includes standard language about NEOMED’s professional standards. This language is reviewed annually by the MSPE Advisory Committee.
      1. If a student has not experienced any lapses in professionalism, the following statement is provided: (Student Name) has met all of the stated objectives for professionalism at NEOMED.
      2. If a student experiences a lapse in professionalism that resulted in action by the CAPP it is reported in this section. The language for reporting lapses in professionalism is created in consultation with the course director, CAPP chair and/or the assistant dean of students and approved by the COM Vice Dean and NEOMED’s General Counsel.
    6. Preclinical Curriculum: This section includes standard language about the preclinical curriculum. This language is reviewed annually by the Senior Associate Dean of Medical Education. The following statement is included at the conclusion of the preclinical curriculum section: “(Student Name) completed all of the requirements for the preclinical curriculum.”
    7. Comparative Performance Charts for M1 and M2
      1. Individualized comparative performance charts are provided by the offices of medical education and information technology.
      2. If a student repeated an academic year, the comparative performance chart includes grades for both the original and the repeat year.
    8. Clinical Curriculum: This section includes grades (clinical and final) and summary comments from each of the seven required M3 clerkships and elective, listed in chronological order.
      1. Summary comments from the M3 Grade Form are edited for spelling and grammar.
      2. Remediated clerkship grades are indicated as R-PASS (F/P).
      3. If a clerkship is repeated, both grades and both sets of summary comments are included in the order in which they were completed.
      4. If a student earned “pass with commendation” on either the clinical portion of the clerkship or the NBME subject exam, but did not honor the entire clerkship, the following statement is included in bold at the end of the narrative comments: “(Student Name) earned pass with commendation for the clinical component/NBME subject exam of this clerkship.”
    9. Comparative Performance Charts for M3
      1. Individualized comparative performance charts are provided by the offices of medical education and information technology.
      2. If a student repeated the academic year, the comparative performance chart includes performance for both the original and the repeat year.
    10. Summary paragraph: The summary paragraph is drafted by the Assistant Dean of Students or designee using the following standardized statement from the main sections of the MSPE:
      1. (Student Name) successfully completed all requirements of the preclinical and clinical curriculum and met all stated objectives for professionalism at NEOMED.
      2. Notably, (Student Name) \achieved Pass with Commendation/Honors in (clerkships).
      3. As you can see from (Student Name)’s extracurricular activities (highlight qualities from notable accomplishments)
      4. Throughout his/her/their third-year clerkships, his/her/their clinical preceptors found him/her/them to be (adjectives from summary clerkship comments).
      5. In summary, (Student Name) possesses all the essential qualities of an aspiring physician necessary to become a successful resident.
    11. Signature Line: The MSPE is signed by the Dean of the College of Medicine and the Assistant Dean of Students.
    12. Other Information: The following statement about class rank calculation is included below the signature line:
      1. The NEOMED curriculum uses multiple measures across a variety of competencies to guide student achievement and to create a personalized medical education experience that allows each individual to excel. While some measures are quantitative, some are categorical, and others can only be assessed in qualitative ways; therefore, the NEOMED College of Medicine does not calculate an official class standing. For the purpose of Alpha Omega Alpha selection only, the top 25% of College of Medicine students are identified based on their academic performance through the end of the third year. Students in the top 10% of the class receive a numerical class standing. Students who are not in the top quartile have no mention of class standing in their MSPE. The following conditions apply to the calculation: Only grades from courses taken at the NEOMED College of Medicine are used in the calculations;
        1. If a student remediates any course or clerkship/clinical rotation, the original grade is used, not the remediated grade; and
        2. If a student repeats some segment of the curriculum (year, clerkship/clinical rotation, etc.), both the original and repeated grades are used in the calculation.
    13. Review Process
      1. Draft MSPEs are reviewed in early-August by a designated group of College of Medicine faculty for accuracy and consistency. MSPE readers are instructed to write any comments or suggested changes in red directly on the document, place their initials and the date in the top left corner of the document to indicate their review is complete, and return all documents to the ADS.
        1. Students have the opportunity to review the MSPE for factual accuracy at two points in the MSPE process (after the first and final drafts).  Draft MSPEs are uploaded to the MSPE Canvas site and placed in individual student folders.
        2. Students are instructed to complete the on line MSPE/Transcript Authorization Form immediately upon reviewing the MSPE, using the comments section to note corrections, questions or concerns.
        3. Students may challenge the content of their MSPE using the MSPE/Transcript Authorization Form or by contacting the assistant dean of students directly. The deadline for challenging the MPSE content is two weeks before the MSPE release date. All challenges to the content of the MSPE are reviewed and approved by the Vice Dean. The outcome of the review is communicated to the student by the assistant dean of students
        4. No updates are made to the MSPE after the AAMC/ERAS designated release date unless the MSPE contains a factual error. If there is a factual error discovered after the AAMC/ERAS designated release date students must complete the “Request for Amendment the Student Record” form to request changes.
        5. After the AAMC/ERAS designated release date, the MSPE becomes part of the student’s permanent academic record. An electronic copy of the MSPE is permanently maintained in the Deans Letter folder.  A NEOMED graduate may request that their MSPE be sent to a residency program or other potential employer by contacting the office of the registrar.  Students may obtain a personal copy of the MSPE, which includes the words “issued directly to student”, after the match.  All copies of the MSPE issued directly to the student are stamped as such. If the student transmits their copy of the MSPE directly to a prospective residency program or employer, the indication that the MSPE was issued directly to the student must remain intact. Graduates may also request a personal copy of the MSPE following the guidelines above.
        6. MSPE Addendum
          1. The MSPE is part of a student’s official record. As such, any changes or additions made once an MSPE has been submitted are made only as addenda to the original and not to the original itself. Addenda will only be added if a student is (re)applying in a follow-up match cycle and will only include information that is new since the original submission. No addenda is included for the purposes of the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP).

CONTACT

Lisa Noland
Administrative Specialist
Phone: 330.325.6354
Email: lnoland@neomed.edu

Office of General Counsel

Northeast Ohio Medical University