Academic and Professional Conduct Expectations

Academic and professional conduct expectations

Elon University and the Physician Assistant Program value and strive to maintain an academic and residential environment that is conducive to learning including personal and professional growth. As a result, the Elon Honor Code is comprised of academic and social policies covering a number of issues germane to campus life.

Academic Honesty Policy

Academic honesty is an important characteristic in student life at Elon University and in the professional development of a PA student. Students are expected to read, accept, and adhere to all aspects of the Elon University Academic Honor Code. Please see the Elon University Student Handbook for details of the code and policies regarding infractions. Any PA student witnessing a possible violation of the Honor Code in the academic year should report the allegation to the course director or the student’s academic advisor. In the clinical education phase, allegations should be reported to the Director of Clinical Education. Please see Elon’s Honor Pledge. A copy of the signed Honor Pledge will be maintained in the student file.

Professional Conduct Policy

To promote a safe and comfortable learning environment for all members of the Elon University community, students are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that reflects concern for others. Professional conduct involves relationships and interactions between all those involved in medical education and the delivery of patient care including, but not limited to PAs, physicians, nurses, other allied health professionals, students, and administrators.

In addition to the professionalism standards set forth above, examples of behaviors that are unacceptable include but are not limited to disrespect for faculty and staff members, clinical setting colleagues and supervisors, other students, patients and their families or standardized patients; theft; vandalism; acts of violence; sexual harassment; disrespect for personal and university property; tardiness; or unapproved absences for classes or other Program activities. For further details of Elon University Social Policies and the process for hearing violations, please see the Elon University Student Handbook (linked above).

Guidelines for Professionalism in the Use of Social Media by PA Students

Social media such as email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogs, etc., have become ubiquitous agents throughout the world. Each offers the ability to connect and share information and photos with other people in nearly real-time situations. While social media can provide many unique, beneficial experiences, physician assistant students need to be aware of the potential pitfalls associated with the use of social media by health care providers and students. Photos and comments posted online can be viewed by nearly anyone with an Internet connection. Privacy settings often are not enough to prevent photos and comments from being distributed by the student, provider, or their friends and family members. Online actions can affect the student’s personal and professional reputations as well as impacting the reputation of the department, the university, and the profession.

Medicine is a conservative field. Physician assistants and other healthcare providers are generally held to higher standards of personal and professional conduct than other professions due to the ethical and private nature of patient interactions. The online availability of a provider’s personal information can be used in hiring decisions, especially when a graduate is applying for a first job, or in the event of dismissal decisions when a physician assistant is already employed. State licensing boards have the authority to discipline healthcare providers for online professionalism issues including revealing patient information, unprofessional conduct, actions, or behaviors deemed provocative, appearance of intoxication, misrepresentation of credentials, and discriminatory practices or comments.  Students should use extreme caution when posting verbal or photographic depictions of their personal lives and understand that unprofessional behavior shown on social media will be considered significant breaches of professionalism that are not acceptable in this Program.

Elon University DPAS students are considered members of the physician assistant profession upon entering the Program and should conduct themselves accordingly. Many hospitals and other healthcare systems have very stringent guidelines on the use of social media by their employees. Elon DPAS has adopted the following guidelines to help prepare students for what they may expect as they enter the workforce:

1. No patient information will be shared online by any student in the program without documentation of patient permission. Students must recognize that even attempts to de-identify information can be insufficient to protect patient privacy.
2. Students may not engage in online discussions of patients or groups of patients, classmates, instructors, preceptors, Elon University, or clinical practice sites using profanity or discriminatory or disparaging comments.
3. Students must not interact with current or past patients via social media.
4. Students must refrain from posting photos or comments showing themselves in potentially unprofessional situations (e.g., drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, using weapons, etc.)
5. Students may not represent themselves online as healthcare providers until after they have successfully graduated and completed appropriate licensing requirements.
6. Students may not use social media during class, lab or other instructional time unless given specific permission by the instructor.

Any violation by a student of the Elon DPAS Social Media Guidelines will result in appearance before the Academic and Professional Progress Committee and may result in dismissal from the program.

Adapted from the American Medical Association’s Opinion 9.124 Professionalism in the Use of Social Media and the Federation of State Medical Boards Model Policy Guidelines for the Appropriate Use of Social Media and Social Networking in Medical Practice