Continuous Review of Accreditation Standards and Quality Improvement in a Medical Education Program – Practical Recommendations for Implementing a Program

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Background: Accreditation reviews of medical education program standards are becoming more common throughout the world. The consequences of unfavorable decisions on a school's accreditation status can be significant. As accrediting bodies have become more rigorous in applying the standards required for medical schools to maintain their accreditation, a school's ability to ensure compliance with standards and act upon identified problems should not be left until the school's preparation for the next accreditation review cycle. Aim and Method: Based upon a review of the literature related to accreditation standard review and continuous quality improvement (CQI), regulatory documents of agencies impacting accreditation requirements, and our own experience with developing and implementing a process of continuous review of accreditation standards and quality improvement of the medical education program, we propose practical recommendations for schools interested in initiating such a program or modifying an existing program. Results: A program of continuous review of accreditation standards and quality improvement of the medical education program can be implemented at an institution by clearly defining the expectations for such a program by institutional leadership, by assigning a faculty and staff member the responsibility of facilitating the implementation and evaluation of the program, by utilizing a practical approach of regular review of entire standards and specific topics within standards deemed to be of critical importance to the school, by involving a committee of key leaders of the medical education program to oversee the evaluation of the review program and link its results and decisions to action plans and CQI efforts, and by utilizing common work flow processes and software available at most institutions. Conclusion: Establishing a regular review process of the medical education program's accreditation standards and linking the review process to CQI goals of the medical education program (based upon the findings of an institutional self-study) is a manageable endeavor, will provide updated data to the medical education program's leadership for the purposes of strategic planning and CQI effort prioritization, will lead to the creation of a continually updated self-study data collection instrument that facilitates the process of the next complete self-study, and may lead to fewer negative accreditation decisions by a program's accrediting organization.