UME Accreditation process gains momentum

Planning for the CACMS/LCME accreditation for the Undergraduate Medical Education Program is moving full steam ahead. Energy this summer focused on meetings with a wide range of individuals, programs and departments including the Dean, the Windsor Program, Learner Equity & Wellness, Undergraduate Medical Education, Finance, Continuing Professional Development, Admissions, Undergraduate Interprofessional Education, and Inter-hospital Relations and Faculty Affairs. As well, the process to launch the students on their independent student analysis (ISA) also begun.

The collection of information for the DCI Foundational Data is currently underway with more than 90 individuals across the School receiving requests for data and narratives. Once the information has been reviewed and completed, it will posted to the confidential Accreditation OWL website. This foundational information will then be reviewed by the Institutional Self Study Task Force (ISSTF)

ISSTF is a critical component to the accreditation process. As defined by LCME.org, the institutional self-study is "one of three required elements (the others being the Foundational Data - formerly called a database - and the Independent Student Analysis). The self-study requires participation of the administration, faculty, student body, and other constituencies to:

1) review the data collected about the medical school and its educational program (Foundational Data),

2) identify institutional strengths and issues requiring action, and

3) define strategies to ensure that the strengths are maintained and any problem areas identified are addressed effectively.

The summary report resulting from the self-study process provides an evaluation of the quality of the medical education program and the adequacy of resources to support it. The usefulness of the self-study as a guide for planning and change is enhanced when participation is broad and representative, when the results and conclusions are widely disseminated, and when the participants have engaged in a thoughtful process of institutional analysis and reflection."

The School's institutional self-study task force (ISSTF) and its six subcommittees (each with a London and Windsor Chair) will be responsible for conducting the self-study. The subcommittees will review the relevant accreditation standards, information from the database, and other sources related to its specific area of responsibility (e.g., Educational Program Leading to the MD Degree [2 subcommittees], Medical Students, Faculty, Educational Resources and Institutional Setting) and will generate a report.

Faculty, staff and students are required to sit on the ISSTF. Each member of an ISSTF subcommittee will be expected to review the provided data, attend 4 or 5 meetings from January to May 2014 and contribute to their subcommittee report (writing or review and editing). CACMS/LCME sets out the questions to be addressed by each sub-committee.

Shannon Venance, faculty lead, and Lesley De Pauw, project manager, will synthesize the individual subcommittee reports into a final self-study summary report that includes a statement of institutional strengths and issues that require attention to ensure ongoing or future compliance with accreditation standards and to improve programmatic quality. This report is then submitted to CACMS and LCME along with the Foundational Data and the Independent Student Analysis.

A full timeline for accreditation can be found here.