As the expression goes – out of sight, out of mind. That’s probably an apt description of how people view the process for accreditation of the medical school. It’s one of those things that most people take for granted.
But, I can assure you, there’s nothing that should be taken for granted about the importance of and challenge in obtaining accreditation. Without accreditation, you don’t have a medical school. Over the last several years a record number of medical schools in the U.S. have found themselves on probation.
As some of you know, representatives of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) were on campus this month for our accreditation site visit. This was the first reaccreditation effort for the College of Medicine in eight years.
It is a monumental task preparing for reaccreditation. Countless hours of preparation go into the process. Hundreds of faculty, staff, and students worked for months to prepare a self-study that was submitted to the LCME in early summer. This is followed by the site visit from a group of national experts in medical education.
It is truly a comprehensive look at every aspect of medical education and the vision for the future. More than 50 UNMC students and faculty participated in sessions with the site visit team.
I want to take this opportunity to personally thank Gerald Moore, M.D., senior associate dean for academic affairs, for taking the lead on UNMC’s reaccreditation effort. Dr. Moore has been through the reaccreditation process before, but this one was a little different. He assumed the lead role in midstream after our original project leader accepted a position with another institution.
Although I want to thank everyone who participated in the database preparation, self-study, and site visit, special thanks should be given to Judy Houfek in the dean’s business office who coordinated the site visit and helped prepare all of the many reports and appendices that were involved in the process.
At the end of the visit, the site visitors provided Chancellor Maurer and me with a written report. They were impressed by our facilities and programs. As expected, they also noted some areas related to the curriculum that we can improve upon.
That is the benefit of the process – it will make us even better at what we do. A final recommendation regarding our accreditation status will not be made until the February 2014 meeting of the LCME.
We will await the LCME’s final recommendations. But, it’s good to get the site visit behind us. Job well done!