LCME: New Standard ED-19-A

Proposed New Accreditation Standard ED-19-A

LCME accreditation standards are divided into five broad categories: Institutional Setting (IS), Educational Program for the MD Degree (ED), Medical Student (MS), Faculty (FA), and Educational Resources (ER).

Background
Proposed new standard ED-19-A was approved by the LCME at its meeting on October 2-4, 2012. Following the period of public comment, the LCME will take final action on standard ED-19-A at its meeting on February 5-7, 2013.

Recommendation
That new LCME accreditation standard ED-19-A be adopted. The proposed language of new standard ED-19-A is as follows:

The core curriculum of a medical education program must prepare medical students to function collaboratively on health care teams that include other health professionals. Members of the health care teams from other health professions may be either students or practitioners.

Rationale
Recent publications by various organizations representing the medical education and medical practice communities have focused on the importance of interprofessional education and interprofessional collaborative practice for ensuring improved patient outcomes and enhanced safety and quality of care. In addition, representatives of the LCME and of the Committee on the Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) have been meeting regularly with representatives of the accrediting bodies for other health profession educational programs in the United States and Canada to collaborate on the development of complementary accreditation standards in the area of interprofessional education for their respective educational programs. Finally, the LCME and CACMS Secretariats have been collaboratively developing an LCME accreditation standard that addresses interprofessional education and experience for medical students in the core curriculum of medical education programs. Proposed standard ED-19-A represents the outcome of these efforts.

Data from recent LCME annual surveys indicate that a majority of medical education programs (75%) currently include required interprofessional experiences for their students.

References
AIPHE INTERPROFESSIONAL HEALTH EDUCATION ACCREDITATION Phase 1 “Principles and practices for integrating IPE into the accreditation standards.” The Accreditation of Interprofessional Health Education Initiative (www.aiphe.ca)

AIPHE INTERPROFESSIONAL HEALTH EDUCATION ACCREDITATION Phase 2 “Accreditation Standards Guide.” The Accreditation of Interprofessional Health Education Initiative (www.aiphe.ca)

Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel (2011). Core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice: Report of an expert panel. Washington, DC: Interprofessional Education Collaborative (www.aamc.org/publications)

Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (2002). Definition of Interprofessional Education. (www.caipe.org.uk/resources/)

The World Health Organization (2010). Framework for Action on Interprofessional Education & Collaborative Practice. (www.who.int/hrh/resources/framework_action/en/index.html)

Public Hearing
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) will hold a hearing for public comment on a new accreditation standard on interprofessional education at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) in San Francisco, California on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. The hearing will take place from 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM in room 3020 of the Moscone Center.

In addition to oral testimony provided at the public hearing, written comments will become part of the hearing record. Written comments may be e-mailed to lcmesubmissions@aamc.org until December 31, 2012. Anonymous comments will not be considered.

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