News: Postgraduate Medical Education Accreditation site visit

In November 2019, 53 of the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry’s 55 medical residency and area of focused competence programs participated in an accreditation site visit. Volunteer faculty from medical schools in Canada representing the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the College of Family Physicians of Canada spent one week at the School meeting with all the programs and medical leadership teams.

The site visit culminated nearly three years of planning and preparation that included internal reviews, mock site visits, two pre-survey visits and the preparation of tools and materials.

At the conclusion of the site visit, Dr. Chris Watling, Associate Dean, Postgraduate Medical Education shared his pride and gratitude to all the faculty, staff and learners for their work in preparing for and participation in accreditation.

“We are immensely proud of our postgraduate programs at Schulich Medicine,” he said. “We are grateful for the commitment and dedication of program directors, program administrators, and teaching faculty, for their efforts in preparing for this accreditation visit, and for their year-round support for residency training.”

Accreditation is a regular process that occurs once every eight years for postgraduate medical programs at every medical school in Canada. Recently, the accreditation process was changed and now, in addition to the programs being reviewed, the institution as a whole is also reviewed for compliance with the national standards governing postgraduate medical education.

“Accreditation is an opportunity to highlight the School’s strengths and to receive feedback on areas for improvement and growth,” said Dr. Watling. “We view it as just one aspect of the School’s ongoing commitment to continuous quality improvement and to grow our curricula, to enhance our assessment strategies and to build nurturing and supportive learning environments.”

With the accreditation site visits complete, accreditors are preparing reports that will be shared with the Accreditation Committees of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the College of Family Physicians of Canada. 

These reports identify areas of strength and areas for improvement in all programs. They also will provide a road map for programs in the months and years ahead, as they seek to continually refine and enhance the quality of education they offer.

It is at that stage that a new status of accreditation will be conferred on each program and the institution as a whole. No program can lose accreditation through this process, however, some programs may be required to demonstrate their progress toward addressing identified areas for improvement within two years.

The School is looking forward to receiving the accreditation reports and continuing its focus on ongoing quality improvement.