Professional development in accreditation: Attending to CQI on a personal level
Lois Margaret Nora, MD, JD, MBA
A question I am often asked when people learn of our consulting group’s support for schools going through accreditation is “How do you recommend we keep up?” Numerous standards, crossing all areas of the medical education program; annual updates of standards, elements, and the Data Collection Instrument (DCI); questions about how the standards and elements are interpreted and whether those interpretations change over time … these are a few of the things that cause concern.
Like all else in our professional lives, keeping up requires a commitment to ongoing learning and professional development. Fortunately, resources for medical education professionals who are interested in accreditation have proliferated over the past few years. Here is some of the advice I offer when asked about keeping up in this area.
To educate yourself and your team, plan an annual review of changes to the LCME standards and elements as well as revisions to the DCI. As we have suggested previously, you can couple this process with an annual update of your school’s DCI. This is a great opportunity to remain well informed about the standards and on track for continuous quality improvement (CQI) between accreditation cycles, and it will also position you to educate colleagues across the school. The Medical Education and Student Affairs offices as well as the CQI committee will need to be aware of changes across all the standards and elements, while other committees and specialized offices (e.g., Student Health, Finance, and Registrar) may find a more focused discussion most helpful.
The accreditation-related sessions at AAMC meetings are always of great value. And do not hesitate to take advantage of the LCME Secretariat’s offer of private consultation opportunities during the AAMC meeting. Ongoing communication with the Secretariat through these sessions — and by phone or email during other times of the year — is valuable as questions arise and is particularly important if a school is contemplating substantial changes to its medical education program. This proactive interaction can be an excellent source of learning, and it is a crucial step for ensuring any major changes are planned with accreditation implications in mind. I’m also excited about the AAMC meeting opportunities related to CQI and accreditation scholarship presented by our colleagues. These are burgeoning areas of scholarship in medical education over the past few years.
Attend the regularly scheduled Connecting with the LCME Secretariat webinars. The schedule of topics and dates can be found on the LCME website. I have been surprised to learn that some people think these webinars are primarily useful in the period leading up to a survey visit — actually, they are terrific anytime in the accreditation cycle. All the webinars will be useful for accreditation/CQI professionals and leaders of major areas in Medical Education and Student Affairs. These professionals can, in turn, share the learning by spreading the word about scheduled topics that may be relevant to other offices at their schools.
One of the most valuable professional development opportunities for accreditation/CQI professionals that has emerged in the past several years is the CGEA Program Evaluation & Accreditation Special Interest Group. While this SIG began in the Central Group of GEA (my first professional home in medical education!), it has rapidly expanded into a national community. Their monthly meetings span a variety of topics. I’m particularly excited about this group, as I hope it can provide an important feedback loop to the LCME that allows schools' experiences, concerns, and questions to be conveyed to accreditors.
Certain professional development opportunities are particularly important at key points in the accreditation cycle. Schools should attend the orientation meetings sponsored by the LCME as they begin their self-study. And the LCME’s Faculty Fellows program is a valuable source of learning for current or prospective faculty accreditation leads.
At MSAG, professional development is a regular part of our work. While we take part in many of the activities I have mentioned, we have other ongoing professional development — both informal and formal. Much of our informal professional development relates to learning from one another as part of our team approach to our work. We also have formal professional development focused on our own CQI. Examples include regular review of feedback collected by an independent quality assurance professional following each consulting engagement, presentation of relevant literature, focused discussion of one or more elements, and professional development on a topic such as language and demeanor during a mock site visit.
Those of us who work in accreditation are called to it for a variety of reasons. Passion — whether for improving patient care through improved health professions training; for education and making it the best it can be; or for quality improvement and the role accreditation plays — has often brought us to this work. Passion is an important motivator, but to do our best work, we must continue learning. That’s why ongoing, lifelong professional development is so valuable. I am delighted to see the growing emphasis on professional development in accreditation and CQI, and I welcome your ideas about additional ways we can all work together to continue our growth.
