Student Work Hours
Please note:
Students who matriculated in 2024 and thereafter are subject to ASCEND policies.
Students who matriculated in 2023 or earlier and who are graduating in 2027 or earlier are subject to the LEGACY curriculum policies.
Students who matriculated in 2023 or earlier who are graduating in 2028 or thereafter will be subject to a mix of policies depending on when their progression was delayed or temporarily halted. These students will be subject to ASCEND policies when they resume or continue their studies.
These policies are applicable to students in the Legacy Curriculum and the ASCEND Curriculum.
Pre-Clerkship Contact Hours Policy This policy outlines the instructional time limitations for preclerkship students in Legacy curriculum and ASCEND curriculum.
Applicable for: All Medical Students in Legacy and ASCEND
Approved by: Executive Oversight Committee
Relevant LCME Standards: 8.8 Monitoring Student Time
Approval Dates: 5/17/24
RELATED POLICIES
Credit Hours Policy
POLICY
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai determines the total required instructional time in the PreClerkship Phase to ensure that the volume of material is appropriate and to allow medical students sufficient time for independent study.
The maximum time of scheduled learning activities (e.g., live, synchronous, recorded/asynchronous) is 27 hours per week, averaged over the course.
Assigned activities (e.g., required preparation, such as viewing audio/video recordings, reading assignments) are limited to a maximum of 40 hours per week, averaged over the course or module (estimating 1.5 hours of assigned activity per 1 hour of scheduled learning activity, averaged over the week).
PROCESS
The number of scheduled learning activities and assigned activities are monitored by the Office of Curricular Affairs.
This policy is disseminated to module and course directors annually and during each module’s yearly preparatory meeting.
This policy is also provided to students before each academic year starts.
Anonymous module evaluations include items to assess students’ perceptions of workload in each module. Module and course evaluation data regarding workload are collected at the end of each module by the Office of Assessment and Evaluation, with a yearly report of this data submitted to the Executive Oversight Committee (EOC).
Clinical Student Work Hours Policy This policy outlines the instructional time limitations for clinical students.
Applicable for: Graduating Classes of 2025, 2026, 2027
Approved by: Executive Oversight Committee
Relevant LCME Standards: 8.8 Monitoring Student Time
Approval Dates: 6/2/23 4/19/24
POLICY
Duty Hours:
Duty hours in Years 3 and 4 related to clinical and educational activities must be limited to 80 hours per week, averaged over the clerkship period.
Duty hours during a typical week:
Include: all clinical and educational activities where a student is physically present in the hospital or clinic—direct patient care (e.g., rounding, seeing patients) and their attendant administrative duties (e.g., completing medical records, ordering and reviewing lab tests); time spent when a student is on overnight in-house call; time in scheduled academic activities such as didactics (synchronous or asynchronous) and conferences; time spent completing mandatory clerkship assignments (e.g. online modules, watching recorded lectures); and time in required longitudinal experiences. o Exclude: time spent commuting, reading, studying, or preparing academically at home or away from the patient care site (e.g., preparing for presentations or conferences, studying for exams); or on hospital premises for activities that are not scheduled as part of the student’s clerkship.
Students must have a minimum of 8 hours free of duty between scheduled duty hours/shifts.
Students must be provided with a continuous 24 hours off during every seven days of duty, free from all clinical and educational responsibilities.
Students must attend to clerkship duties on the day before their NBME Subject Exam Assessment Day. Clerkship duties must end no later than 5:00 pm on that day.
During Year 3, students are given one half day of protected FlexTime for every four weeks of curriculum.
During Year 4, students are given one full week of protected FlexTime after Match Week.
In-House Call Activities:
In-house call is defined as those duty hours added to the normal work shift when students are required to be immediately available in the assigned patient care site.
Students must be scheduled for in-house on-call activities no more frequently than every third day.
A. In-House Extended Day Call
In house extended day call is defined as those duty hours added to the normal work shift, if overnight in-house call is not required
Extended day call ends no later than 9:00pm and the student is expected to return the next morning (no earlier than 5:00am on any service)
B. In-House Overnight Call
In-house overnight call is defined as those duty hours added to the normal work shift when students are expected to be immediately available overnight in the assigned patient care site.
If a student is required to be on overnight in-house call, following regular duty hours/shifts, then the student is required to be off duty by 9:00 am the next morning.
Night Float Rotation
Night float is defined as duty hours that occur in the late evening or overnight, with time off during the day to rest.
Night float rotation is considered shift work and not an in-house call.
Night float rotation should not exceed 5 nights in a row; at a minimum, there are 8 hours off between shifts.
PROCEDURE
The Curricular Affairs Support Team disseminates the duty hours policy to Clerkship Directors and Site Directors at the beginning of each academic year.
Clerkship Directors disseminate the duty hours policy to clerkship faculty and house staff at all clinical training sites annually.
Residents, Faculty and non-educators receive the policy at the beginning of each academic year.
Students receive and review the policy prior to the start of Year 3 and during each clerkship’s Orientation.
Anonymous end-of-clerkship evaluations allow students to report violations to duty hours and the data are reviewed quarterly by the Clinical Curriculum Subcommittee (CCS). Yearly reports on student duty hours are presented to the Executive Oversight Committee (EOC).
Credit Hours Policy This policy describes how credit hours are determined for learning experiences.
Applicable for: All Medical Students in Legacy and ASCEND
Approved by: Executive Oversight Committee
Relevant LCME Standards:
Approval Dates: 5/17/24
RELATED POLICY
Pre-Clerkship Student Contact Hours
Clinical Student Work Hours
POLICY
The credit hours for courses at the medical school will be determined using the following formula: 30 contact hours plus an average of 45 out-of-class independent student work equals 1 credit hour.
Definitions:
Contact Hours: Contact hours refer to the time spent in direct instructional activities with faculty, including lectures, seminars, workshops, clerkship/clinical rotations, and laboratory sessions.
Out-of-Class Hours: Out-of-class hours encompass the time students are expected to spend on independent study, research, assignments, projects, clinical practice, and other learning activities outside of formal instruction.
Credit Hour Calculation:
For each module, the total contact hours and out-of-class hours will be determined based on the course objectives, curriculum design, and instructional methods.
Modules and Courses:
The credit hour value for a module or course will be calculated by dividing the total hours (contact hours + out-of-class hours) by the established formula of 30 contact hours plus 45 outside hours equals 1 credit hour.
Clerkships, Acting Internships, and Clinical/Non-Clinical Elective experiences:
One week equals 1 credit hour.
The resulting credit hour value will be rounded to the nearest whole number as per standard academic practice.
PROCESS
Faculty members responsible for course design and delivery are expected to accurately estimate and allocate contact hours and outside hours based on the course content and learning objectives.
The Office of Curricular Affairs will review and approve credit hour calculations for courses to ensure compliance with this policy.
Students will be informed of the credit hour allocation for each course in the module information sheet, including the breakdown of contact hours and outside hours required.
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