College of Medicine:Phase 1 Contact Hours

All blocks within Phase 1 are to provide ample opportunity for students to practice self-directed and independent learning, as well as complete other co-curricular and clinical experiences. As such, block directors are expected to adhere to the following guidelines when scheduling their experiences:

• Each week is to include no more than 26.5 student contact hours. An additional 4 hours are allowed for assessments (written and practical examinations, OSCEs, etc.). These limits are averaged over the entire block.
• Each week is to have at least 2 half-days off for students to complete Longitudinal Clinical Experience visits and it is recommended that these half-days are varied in their placement between weeks to maximize students’ ability to schedule these experiences. These limits are averaged over the entire block.  Holidays are viewed as one half-day off for scheduling purposes. Time taken for required non-block activities (e.g. IPE and intersession days) do not count toward half days off and should be considered classroom time.
• Any time necessary for pre-work for required activities (e.g. viewing online modules) contributes to the 26.5-hour limit.
• Due to the structure of the instruction, the Multi-Organ Systems Block is exempt from these requirements.

The curriculum committee reviews block schedules/student workload biannually and may adjust these guidelines.

Approved by the Curriculum Committee: July 23, 2019

Revised by the Curriculum Committee: July 27, 2021

Revised by the Curriculum Committee: July 23, 2024