Learning Environment and Preventing Student Mistreatment

Promoting a Positive Learning Environment

Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine is committed to fostering and maintaining an environment in which there is mutual respect among students, teachers, staff and peers. We encourage an atmosphere that is respectful and supportive of every individual regardless of gender, race, religion, age, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin.

Central to our institution's mission is the understanding that well-being is driven by context, community, and behavior. One of our core pillars is to Enable and nurture student, faculty and staff well-being through a learning environment that enhances the overall educational experience and maximizes student, faculty and staff potential. We aim to deliver on those principles.

The goal is to uphold a visible, trusted, and collaborative Positive Learning Environment presence across our distributed learning environment. Therefore, reinforcing a shared commitment to an environment where students can learn, ask questions, receive feedback, raise concerns, and grow professionally. Behavior that is abusive or mistreats students or others in the learning environment is prohibited.

Responsibilities of Teachers and Learners

Teachers should:

• Treat students fairly and respectfully  
• Maintain high professional standards in all interactions  
• Be prepared and on time  
• Provide relevant and timely information  
• Provide explicit learning and behavioral expectations early in a course or clerkship  
• Provide timely, focused, accurate and constructive feedback on a regular basis and thoughtful and timely evaluations at the end of a course or clerkship  
• Display honesty, integrity and compassion  
• Practice insightful (Socratic) questioning, which stimulates learning and self-discovery, and avoid overly aggressive questioning which may be perceived as hurtful, humiliating, degrading or punitive 
• Solicit feedback from students regarding their perception of their educational experiences  Encourage students who experience mistreatment or who witness unprofessional behavior to report the facts immediately 

Students should:

• Be courteous of teachers and fellow students  
• Be prepared and on time  
• Be active, enthusiastic, curious learners  
• Demonstrate professional behavior in all settings  
• Recognize that not all learning stems from formal and structured activities  
• Recognize their responsibility to establish learning objectives and to participate as an active learner  
• Demonstrate a commitment to life-long learning, a practice that is essential to the profession of medicine  
• Recognize personal limitations and seek help as needed  
• Display honesty, integrity and compassion  
• Recognize the privileges and responsibilities coming from the opportunity to work with patients in clinical settings  
• Recognize the duty to place patient welfare above their own  
• Recognize and respect patients‘ rights to privacy  
• Solicit feedback on their performance and recognize that criticism is not synonymous with “abuse”

Student Mistreatment

To model these tenants, we are committed to creating a consistent, safe, equitable, and supportive clinical training experience across the schools distributed network and serve as a trusted resource and partner to bring student voice, transparency, and early identification of learning environment concerns.