The School of Medicine has begun the Self Study for reaccreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). The LCME is recognized by the Department of Education, funding agencies, and state medical boards as the accrediting agency for medical schools. Maintaining accreditation allows us to remain eligible for federal grants, allows our students to be eligible for financial aid, and allows our graduates to obtain licensure.
The self study is a year long process of data collection, self evaluation, and quality improvement. Over 150 faculty will participate through service on a Task Force and 12 subcommittees. The 12 subcommittees will collect data and document how we comply with accreditation standards that reflect all aspects of the medical school: the educational program and curriculum, student support and policies, faculty policies, research, administration, finances, facilities, clinical partnerships, and the learning environment. There are 12 accreditation standards, and each standard has between 6 and 12 elements necessary for compliance (93 elements in all). All of this information will be formatted in the LCME’s Data Collection Instrument (DCI). Our priority will be to ensure that we are compliant with all LCME standards, but we will use this opportunity to identify areas where processes and services for faculty and students can improve.
In the spring and summer of 2017, the Task Force will use the data and documents collected by the 12 subcommittees to write a summary report for the LCME that identifies our strengths and the challenges we face as an institution. All of our data, supporting documentation, and reports will be submitted to the LCME next August, three months prior to our site visit. The site visit will be November 12 – 15, 2017. We were reaccredited for 8 years (the maximum term) in 2009, and our goal is to do just as well in this cycle. This will require a lot of hard work by many faculty. If we take this seriously, use it as an opportunity to identify our weaknesses and improve, we can be equally successful in this visit.
Timeline:
July 2016: Initial meeting of the LCME Self Study Task Force
August 2016: Initial meetings and data collection by 12 subcommittees
January 2017: Initial draft of Data Collection Instrument (DCI)
Spring 2017: Final draft of DCI and initial draft of subcommittee reports
Summer 2017: Task Force Summary Report
August 2017: Submission of all materials to the LCME
Fall 2017: Mock site visit
November 12- 15, 2017 – LCME Site Visit