August 1, 2016
Dear students and colleagues,
We are making solid progress with the implementation of our Undergraduate Medical Education (UGME) accreditation initiatives. The faculty members, staff and students involved have helped us to successfully address many of the issues raised. Other improvements that take more time are also advancing very well. We are deeply appreciative of everyone’s efforts, which benefit us all.
I am pleased to share some of the most recent steps we have taken:
- We are acquiring a new and highly regarded curriculum management system, called Entrada™. This software will enable us to more effectively map objectives to course content, monitor comparability between sites, track student assessments, and continuously measure and improve the MDCM program’s performance. Overall, it will help us to better manage the curriculum in both English and French and address a number of accreditation issues. Rollout of Entrada begins this fall and will continue throughout the year.
- We established the Steering Committee for our Faculty Council, and two Faculty Council meetings have been held this year. I take this opportunity to sincerely thank the members who volunteered, the names of whom are available online. Additional sub-committees are being considered to continue reinforcing the Faculty’s governance. Faculty Council presentations and minutes are posted online for your reference, together with the dates of upcoming meetings.
- We held the first of what will be annual retreats at our geographically distributed teaching site in Gatineau. The goal is to build on McGill’s academic mission with faculty members and partners in the region. A faculty development needs assessment in the Outaouais has also been completed, and two workshops have been scheduled for the upcoming year.
- We received external feedback at my request from Dr. Douglas Miller, Dean of the School of Medicine at New York Medical College, and Dr. Joan Glenn, Professor and former Interim Review Coordinator, Université Laval. They have indicated that we are on the right track and strongly support the new Entrada curriculum management system. They made several other helpful recommendations that we will implement, including carrying out our next strategic planning phase based on a continuous quality improvement (CQI) approach, now required by CACMS/LCME under Element 1.1.* Improving communication and the student experience also remain top priorities. We thank Drs. Miller and Glenn once again for their valuable input.
- We completed a comprehensive communications audit of information sent to UGME students in a given year, and met with students, UGME leadership and staff to discuss improvements. Work is under way to implement the proposed changes, which include weekly email digests customized by class, structured, two-way “OUR UGME” sessions between leadership and students, consolidation of information on UGME platforms, UGME website improvements and increased responsiveness to students, among others.
- We administered our new Medical Education Experience (MEE) Survey for Med-2 and -3 students to capture information about the student experience. Analysis of the data is in progress.
- The students’ wellness office – renamed The WELL Office – continues to increase in robustness, with the hiring of additional staff and other improvements to better meet the needs of students.
- While all new residents attend orientation sessions, online “residents-as-teachers” training on MDCM program objectives is now mandatory, targeting another accreditation issue.
The program will undergo two mock accreditation visits in October and January as part of our ongoing improvement and preparatory efforts. These will require the participation of educational and administrative leadership, including department chairs and course directors, as well as students. Thank you, in advance, for your collaboration.
I am pleased with our progress and know we are taking the right steps, systematically addressing every issue. While we cannot predict the outcome of our next UGME accreditation visit in 2017, our UGME leaders and teams continue to raise the bar and innovate based on best practices in education. I am confident our MDCM program will be stronger than ever. Most importantly, I have no doubt that the quality of our medical school graduates will continue to be outstanding.
Thank you, everyone, for your ongoing engagement and support.
Vice-Principal (Health Affairs)
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
*CACMS/LCME refers to the Committee on the Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools and the U.S. Liaison Committee on Medical Education.
August 3, 2016