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May 11 Bulletin

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Advocacy Work

While some advocacy occurs publicly, other work is quietly done in executive board meetings and while we are not always privy to every conversation, it is important to share when we can. Attached is an example that supporting you through this pandemic is uniting us all now more than ever. This demonstrates the magnitude of work occurring on behalf of medical students for which we are active participants.

USMLE Announcements

Friday’s USMLE Update on Resuming Testing offered a few key developments into the on-going mishandling of test date revisions by Prometric. Here are a few highlights:

Examinees who have suffered direct out-of-pocket monetary losses due to Prometric’s lack of communication or miscommunication regarding test center closures should submit a written claim directly to Prometric at prometric.com/contact-us. You are encouraged to submit any and all expenses incurred (i.e. flight change fees, hotel cancellations).

In March 2020, in response to the suspension in testing, the USMLE program extended eligibility periods to December 2020 for all examinees who had a Step 1, 2 CK or 3 scheduling permit with an unexpired eligibility period with an end date in 2020. To help alleviate some of the pressure examinees may be feeling, we will further extend USMLE eligibility periods through June 2021.

Alternate Delivery of USMLE Step 1, Step 2 CK, and Step 3

To resume testing, we have already identified several options for proctored testing outside of Prometric centers. We are expecting to begin testing at some medical school campuses this month. ISMMS submitted a request for a technical review to determine feasibility of becoming a testing site.

See USMLE Announcement HERE

National Approach

The Coalition for Physician Accountability created a workgroup to address three critical challenges facing the class of 2021 medical student population: Away rotations, residency interviews and ERAS/MSPE Release Date.

The final report and recommendations were released today and HERE are the highlights, along with a progress report for each item based on where we are today.

Away Rotations

Recommend that for the 2020-2021 academic year, away rotations be discouraged, except under the following circumstances:

We will update you in Thursday’s digest regarding how this will affect any scheduled rotations for which you have already been selected or are pending decisions.

Until then, you are encouraged to attend this timely webinar: Demonstrating Interest Without Away Rotations on May 20th, 2020 @ 8 pm EST. Learn more and register HERE.

Virtual Interviews

Recommend that all programs commit to online interviews and virtual visits for all applicants, including local students, rather than in-person interviews for the entire cycle and that the medical education community commit to creating a robust digital environment and set of tools that will yield the best experiences for programs and applicants.

As shared in Dean Charney’s message on Friday, ISMMS GME was already headed down this path and plans to conduct virtual interviews. You are encouraged to review this document HERE and be on the look-out for mock interviews to get you more comfortable with this format.

ERAS and MSPE Release Date

Recommend a delay the opening of ERAS for residency programs and a delayed release of the medical student performance evaluation (MSPE) and that the opening and release happen on the same day.

The AAMC ERAS team announced these two items will occur on October 21, 2020, giving medical students more time to complete interrupted clerkships and audition rotations ahead of the release.

The Office of Student Affairs will work overtime to update your documents to reflect the most updated academic history prior to this release date.

Student Records/Requests

As we enter into application season for residency, scholarships, dual degree programs, please contact the Registrar’s Office for official student record items (i.e. transcript, copy of the MSPE) to the Registrar’s Office.