Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (MCOM)

MCOM holds in high regard professional behaviors and attitudes, including integrity, collegiality, compassion, diversity, service, innovation and a commitment to excellence. Effective learning is best fostered in an environment of mutual respect between teachers and learners. In the context of medical education, the term “teacher” is used broadly to include peers, resident physicians, full-time and volunteer faculty members, clinical preceptors, nurses, and ancillary support staff, as well as others from whom students learn. 

Guiding Principles  

  • Excellence: Medical educators are committed to exceeding expectations.  Educators have a duty not only to convey the knowledge and skills required for delivering the profession’s standard of care but also to model the values and attitudes required for preserving the medical profession’s social contract with its patients.  
  • Integrity: Learning environments that are conducive to conveying professional values must be based on integrity. Students and residents learn professionalism by observing and emulating role models who epitomize authentic professional values, attitudes and, especially, behaviors. 
  • Compassion: The willingness to be engaged with the needs of others is a basic tenet.  Respect for every individual is fundamental to the ethic of medicine. Mutual respect between students, as novice members of the profession and their teachers, as experienced and esteemed professionals, is essential for nurturing that ethic. Given the inherently hierarchical nature of the teacher-learner relationship, teachers have a special obligation to ensure that students and residents are always treated respectfully.