UMKC School of Medicine

Request for Leave of Absence – Technical Standards – MD Programs

Because of our obligation to ensure that patients receive the best medical care possible, certain abilities are require of our students. All students of medicine must possess those intellectual, emotional, mental, and physical capabilities which are necessary to participate fully in the curriculum and which are essential to achieve the levels of competence required by the faculty.

Candidates for the medical degree must demonstrate the ability to work as an effective member of the health care team and must be able to observe and perform a variety of procedures. Intact sensory and motor functioning is required for accurate observation and the competent performance of procedures. Candidates must be able to observe and evaluate a patient accurately, at a distance, and close at hand. This necessitates the functional use of the senses of vision, hearing, touch, and sometimes smell. A candidate must be able to communicate effectively, to hear and to observe patients in order to elicit information, to describe changes in mood, activity and posture, and to perceive nonverbal communications. The candidate must be able to communicate effectively in oral and written form. Candidates must have sufficient sensory and motor function to elicit information from the physical examination by palpation, auscultation, percussion and other diagnostic maneuvers, in a timely manner.

Problem solving is a critical cognitive skill demanded of physicians, and it requires the intellectual abilities of measurement, calculation, reasoning, analysis and synthesis. In addition to these skills, a candidate must possess the high moral and ethical standards demanded of physicians and the emotional health required for full utilization of their intellectual abilities, the exercise of good judgment, the prompt completion of all responsibilities attendant to the diagnosis and care of the patients, and the development of mature, sensitive and effective relationships with patients.

Because of the above essential functions, the School of Medicine strongly discourages the use of surrogates to perform these functions as a reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. While each application is reviewed individually, it is necessary that each degree candidate himself or herself be able to observe and perform each task required by the curriculum of the school. Similarly, the school does not consider the waiver of required examinations a reasonable accommodation for individuals with learning disabilities. Learning-disabled students, when appropriate,* may be granted additional time on required examinations and may be examined in separate testing facilities or accommodated in other reasonable ways, but they will not be exempted from the requirement to take and pass such examinations. In addition, they will not be provided more opportunities to complete coursework or required examinations than given to the other students. All students must adhere to the course or clerkship syllabus and all of its requirements.

*Contact the UMKC Student Accessibility Services for information regarding academic accommodations