Department of
Surgery

Student Assessment

It is important that you understand how your grade is determined while you are on the clinical clerkship. 

  • Comprehensive performance evaluations by faculty and housestaff
  • Evaluation cards from faculty and housestaff
  • Midterm evaluations
  • History and Physicals / Order sets
  • Shelf Examination

There are also self-assessment and group feedback exercises as part of your simulation experience.  While these are important for clinical development, they are not included in your final grade.

Wards Rotation

Each of you will spend two weeks on each surgical rotation and you will be on four rotations. At the end of each rotation you will be assessed on a scale from 1 to 5, 5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. An average mark is considered 3 out of 5. A sample evaluation form is included in the appendix of this syllabus. At the end of your rotation, all of your evaluations will be averaged equally for a score out of 5. This assessment will count for 40% of your grade. All ward evaluations less than 3 will be reviewed and discussed with the clerk directly by one of the clerkship coordinators. A satisfactory grade on the wards is considered an average of 2.51 or greater.. An overall service average of less than 2.50 constitutes an unsatisfactory grade, regardless of all other evaluations. You must be present for at least 10 days of the 14 on each service. If you are ill on the rotation you must report this illness to the clerkship coordinator, Ms Sue Budinsky. If you miss more than 4 days on any ward rotation you will be assigned an incomplete grade. In addition, you must contact the Office of Student Services. This is your responsibility! Please remember that an unsatisfactory grade may be assigned if your performance and behavior on any ward rotation is deemed to be unprofessional based on the academic and professional standards set by the School of Medicine.

Mid Term Exam

Mid Term Exam will be given approximately 4 weeks into your rotation.  It is developed collaboratively between the three campuses (Morgantown, Charleston and Eastern).  It will be based on the core topics in general surgery.  It is worth 15% of your grade. 

Final Shelf Board Exam

A Shelf Board Exam will be given at the end of the rotation. It is worth 35% of your grade. If a student’s score on the shelf board is in the 10th percentile or below this is an automatic unsatisfactory for the surgery rotation. There is no negotiating on any of these standards set on either the midterm or final exam. Students are able to review their file at any time. The final mark will be a score out of 100. Finally, the clerkship directors reserve the right to modify any mark either higher or lower after reviewing all the evaluations from the services and exams.  The exam is standardized and developed by the NBME, given to third year medical students nationally.

Honors

West Virginia School of Medicine, reserves the top 15% of students for honors. Based on fairness, honors will be assigned at the end of the year once all rotations are completed. At the end of the year the top students will be given honors comprising 15% of the students. If you should have any questions regarding this policy, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Unsatisfactory Marks

An unsatisfactory mark is given for a student on surgery if any of the following criteria are met:

  1. A final grade of less than 60%
  2. A shelf board score of the 10th percentile or lower
  3. A ward average of less than 2.5 out of 5
  4. Academic and professional misconduct as defined by the School of Medicine Academic and Professional Standards committee.


An unsatisfactory mark may result in the student repeating the entire surgical clerkship.