VCOM Preceptors for core rotations are appointed as Clinical Track Faculty. Clinical track faculty are those faculty who teach under a contractual services agreement with VCOM, rather than an employment contract, and who teach VCOM students in the clinical setting only. While these faculty provide dedicated time to the teaching of VCOM students, their primary duties are clinical practice for the clinical employer. Instead of an employment contract, these faculty generally hold:
- A contractual agreement for teaching services between the faculty member and VCOM; whereby, the faculty member is paid according to teaching time or services performed in the clinical setting on an annual basis (paid for services provided); or
- A contractual agreement with a VCOM affiliated academic health center or medical group that teaches VCOM students in the clinical setting while working for the employer, where the agreement outlines that VCOM must pay the clinical entity for the faculty member’s duties and the faculty member is to be paid by the employer.
For appointment or advancement in rank, clinical track faculty’s teaching and service accomplishments outweigh their accomplishments in research and scholarly activity; however, while research may not be a significant part of their employment, scholarly activity remains an expectation. The appointment process for clinical track faculty considers clinical teaching performance, clinical expertise, and accomplishment in the clinical realm. Scholarly activity for clinical track faculty often consists of case reports but may include research on clinical instruction or clinically-based research. Service considerations may include clinical service, professional service, or service-based activities related to community health. The current involvement and benefit for students from the College is considered rather than direct service to the College. However, to advance to the rank of professor, clinical track faculty must demonstrate sustained outstanding performance in teaching, service, and scholarly activity. Clinical track faculty who no longer hold active board certification are not eligible for promotion in rank through the clinical track.