Dear Colleagues and Students,
In June, I wrote to you about our Undergraduate Medical Education (UGME) program, recently surveyed by the U.S. Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME) and the Committee on the Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS). At that time, I confirmed to you that our UGME program is accredited, but with probation.
This update is the first in a series in which I will summarize the work being conducted to correct the deficiencies identified by the LCME and CACMS. Both the original June letter and our detailed plan update are available online for your reference.
It is important to note that, while the UGME program is on probation, it remains fully accredited. Additionally, this accreditation outcome and work plan apply exclusively to the UGME program, and not to the Faculty’s other programs.
We will consult regularly with the CACMS Secretariat over the coming months, beginning September 16 and 17, 2015, when they will visit the Faculty to confirm that our action plan is progressing according to expectations and will be ready for submission by the December deadline. The CACMS Secretariat was impressed that we had already developed an extensive action plan and that we published it online the same week we received our accreditation outcome. We look forward to meeting with them in September for formal feedback and approval of the actions specified in the plan.
In order to meet the needs of students, while also responding to the accreditation demands, the Faculty is undertaking the following organizational changes:
- Launch of a search for a Vice-Dean, Education
To support our educational mission in the same way as we do our research mission, we have launched a search for a Vice-Dean of Education. In addition to ensuring educational issues will be given high priority at the Deanery Executive Committee level, the Vice-Dean will have oversight of the educational programs in all of the Faculty’s schools. The first task of the Vice-Dean will be to review the structure and organization of the UGME program.
- Establishment of a permanent Accreditation Office
We are building on the current Accreditation Office, which is responsible for all professional program accreditations in the Faculty of Medicine, including the UGME program, the Postgraduate program, the Continuing Professional Development program, the Nursing program, among several others. With support from an additional resource, the Office will adopt a continuous quality improvement approach to accreditation. This will help ensure that the processes, systems and policies required to meet our standards are well established and effective, and that we are able to quickly generate meaningful data in support of key performance indicators.
- Administrative improvements to our Medical Education Services
As part of the Faculty’s ongoing efforts to improve administrative services across all departments, we have reorganized our Medical Education Services and appointed an Associate Director of Administration for this unit, which includes our Undergraduate Medical Education operations, among others. This fall, we will also introduce Administrative Excellence Centre services related to human resources and finance to support the unit.
Implementation of Preliminary Action Plan
To ensure rapid resolution of the accreditation issues, we have put in place an Accreditation Implementation Committee, chaired by me. This Committee, the mandate and composition of which can be found here, meets every two weeks.
Preliminary steps to date include:
- Institutional Setting, IS-1 – The timetable for achieving the Faculty’s strategic milestones, with outcome markers, has been updated and should now be compliant with this accreditation standard.
- Educational Program, ED-2 and ED-8 – To ensure comparability of education and assessment between teaching sites, students in the Transition to Clinical Practice and Clerkship components of the UGME program will begin using myMED Portfolio to log information about their clinical encounters and clinical experiences in real-time. This new and valuable application will better help us to identify and then address inconsistencies between sites.
- Educational Program, ED-33 – The first of many steps to optimize the functioning of the Curriculum Committee has been taken. With the completion of its mandate, the New Curriculum Implementation Executive Committee has now been dissolved. As of July, all curricular decision-making and responsibility resides with the Curriculum Committee. Membership has been streamlined and the terms of reference have been revised to reaffirm its role and responsibility toward UGME.
- Educational Program, ED-41 – To better connect with our clinical site directors and teaching faculty at our Gatineau site, we have committed to holding an annual retreat for clerkship directors and clinical chairs in Gatineau, the first of which has already been scheduled.
- Educational Resources, ER-9 – The Faculty’s contracts of affiliation with major teaching hospitals have been updated to include a memorandum of understanding on the learning environment and accidental exposure protocols. These contracts have all been approved by the Boards of the partner institutions.
As we progress through the action plan, we will provide updates by email with links to the pertinent information online. Our goal is to maintain an open and frank dialog throughout, and so I invite you to share any comments with me or the Implementation Committee that you believe will contribute constructively to our combined efforts.
We are committed to excellence more than ever and fully engaged in addressing the accreditation results swiftly and thoroughly. I have full confidence this Faculty will step up to the challenge, and I thank everyone, in advance, who will be called on to help ensure we continue to excel.
David Eidelman, MDCM
Vice-Principal (Health Affairs)
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
UGME Accreditation, July Update:
Accreditation: UGME Update Website