LCME Standards of Accreditation

I.  Institutional Setting

1.

IS-1

Each medical school must engage in a planning process that sets the direction for the institution and results in measurable outcomes.

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A.  Governance and Administration

2.

IS-2

A medical school should be part of a not-for-profit university or chartered as a not-for-profit institution by the government of the jurisdiction in which it operates.

Conclusion:

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3.

IS-3

If not a component of a regionally accredited institution, a U.S. medical school must achieve institutional accreditation from the appropriate regional accrediting body.

Conclusion:

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4.

IS-4

The manner in which the medical school is organized, including the responsibilities and privileges of administrative officers, faculty, students and committees must be promulgated in medical school or university bylaws.

Conclusion:

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5.

IS-5

The governing board responsible for oversight of the medical school must be composed of persons who have no personal or pecuniary interest or other conflict of interest in the operation of the school, its associated hospitals, or any related enterprises.

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6.

IS-6

Terms of governing board members should be overlapping and sufficiently long to permit them to gain an understanding of the programs of the medical school.

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7.

IS-7

Administrative officers and members of a medical school faculty must be appointed by, or on the authority of, the governing board of the medical school or its parent university.

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8.

IS-8

The chief official of the medical school, who usually holds the title "dean," must have ready access to the university president or other university official charged with final responsibility for the school, and to other university officials as are necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of the dean's office.

Conclusion:

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9.

IS-9

There must be clear understanding of the authority and responsibility for medical school matters among the vice president for health affairs, the dean of the medical school, the faculty, and the directors of the other components of the medical center and university.

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10.

IS-10

The dean must be qualified by education and experience to provide leadership in medical education, scholarly activity, and care of patients.

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11.

IS-11

The medical school administration should include such associate or assistant deans, department chairs, leaders of other organizational units, and staff as are necessary to accomplish the missions of the medical school.

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B.  Academic Environment

12.

IS-12

A medical school should be a component of a university offering other graduate and professional degree programs that contribute to the academic environment of the medical school.

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13.

IS-12A

Medical students should learn in clinical environments where graduate and continuing medical education programs are present.

Conclusion:

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14.

IS-13

The program of medical education leading to the M.D. degree must be conducted in an environment that fosters  the intellectual challenge and spirit of inquiry appropriate to a community of scholars.

Conclusion:

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15.

IS-14

Students should have the opportunity to participate in research and other scholarly activities of the faculty.

Conclusion:

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16.

IS-15

All medical school faculty members should work closely together in teaching, research, and health care delivery.

Conclusion:

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II.  Educational Program for the M.D. Degree

A.  Educational Objectives

17.

ED-1

The medical school faculty must define the objectives of its educational program.

Conclusion:

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18.

ED-1-A

The objectives and their associated outcomes must address the extent to which students have progressed in developing the competencies that the profession and the public expect of a physician.

Conclusion:

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19.

ED-2

The objectives for clinical education must include quantified criteria for the types of patients (real or simulated), the level of student responsibility, and the appropriate clinical settings needed for the objectives to be met.

Conclusion:

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20.

ED-3

The objectives of the educational program must be made known to all medical students and to the faculty, residents and others with direct responsibilities for medical student education.

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B.  Structure

1. General Design

21.

ED-4

The program of medical education leading to the M.D. degree must include at least 130 weeks of instruction.

Conclusion:

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22.

ED-5

The medical faculty must design a curriculum that provides a general professional education, and fosters in students the ability to learn through self-directed, independent study throughout their professional lives.

Conclusion:

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23.

ED-6

The curriculum must incorporate the fundamental principles of medicine and its underlying scientific concepts; allow students to acquire skills of critical judgment based on evidence and experience; and develop students' ability to use principles and skills wisely in solving problems of health and disease.

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24.

ED-7

It must include current concepts in the basic and clinical sciences, including therapy and technology, changes in the understanding of disease, and the effect of social needs and demands on care.

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25.

ED-8

There must be comparable educational experiences and equivalent methods of evaluation across all alternative instructional sites within a given discipline.

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26.

ED-9

The LCME must be notified of plans for major modification of the curriculum.

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B.  Structure

2.  Content

27.

ED-10

The curriculum must include behavioral and socioeconomic subjects, in addition to basic science and clinical disciplines.

Conclusion:

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28.

ED-11

It must include the contemporary content of those disciplines that have been traditionally titled anatomy, biochemistry, genetics, physiology, microbiology and immunology, pathology, pharmacology and therapeutics, and preventive medicine.

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29.

ED-12

Instruction within the basic sciences should include laboratory or other practical exercises that entail accurate observations of biomedical phenomena and critical analyses of data.

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30.

ED-13

Clinical instruction must cover all organ systems, and include the important aspects of preventive, acute, chronic, continuing rehabilitative, and end-of-life care.

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31.

ED-14

Clinical experience in primary care must be included as part of the curriculum.

Conclusion:

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32.

ED-15

The curriculum should include clinical experiences in family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry, and surgery.

Conclusion:

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33.

ED-16

Students' clinical experiences must utilize both outpatient and inpatient settings.

Conclusion:

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34.

ED-17

Educational opportunities must be available in multidisciplinary content areas, such as emergency medicine and geriatrics, and in the disciplines that support general medical practice, such as diagnostic imaging and clinical pathology.

Conclusion:

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35.

ED-18

The curriculum must include elective courses to supplement required courses.

Conclusion:

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36.

ED-19

There must be specific instruction in communication skills as they relate to physician responsibilities, including communication with patients, families, colleagues, and other health professionals.

Conclusion:

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37.

ED-20

The curriculum must prepare students for their role in addressing the medical consequences of common societal problems, for example, providing instruction in the diagnosis, prevention, appropriate reporting, and treatment of violence and abuse.

Conclusion:

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38.

ED-21

The faculty and students must demonstrate an understanding of the manner in which people of diverse cultures and belief systems perceive health and illness and respond to various symptoms, diseases, and treatments.

Conclusion:

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39.

ED-22

Medical students must learn to recognize and appropriately address gender and cultural biases in themselves and others, and in the process of health care delivery.

Conclusion:

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40.

ED-23

A medical school must teach medical ethics and human values and require its students to exhibit scrupulous ethical principles in caring for patients, and in relating to patients' families and to others involved in patient care.

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C.  Teaching and Evaluation

41.

ED-24

Residents who supervise or teach medical students, as well as graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the biomedical sciences who serve as teachers or teaching assistants, must be familiar with the educational objectives of the course or clerkship and be prepared for their roles in teaching and evaluation.

Conclusion:

Comment:

42.

ED-25

Supervision of student learning experiences must be provided throughout required clerkships by members of the medical school's faculty.

Conclusion:

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43.

ED-26

The medical school faculty must establish a system for the evaluation of student achievement throughout medical school that employs a variety of measures of knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes.

Conclusion:

Comment:

44.

ED-27

There must be ongoing assessment that assures student have acquired and can demonstrate on direct observation the core clinical skills, behaviors, and attitudes that have been specified in the school's educational objectives.

Conclusion:

Comment:

45.

ED-28

There must be evaluation of problem solving, clinical reasoning, and communication skills.

Conclusion:

Comment:

46.

ED-29

The faculty of each discipline should set the standards of achievement in that discipline.

Conclusion:

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47.

ED-30

The directors of all courses and clerkships must design and implement a system of formative and summative evaluation of student achievement in each course and clerkship.

Conclusion:

Comment:

48.

ED-31

Each student should be evaluated early enough during a unit of study to allow time for remediation.

Conclusion:

Comment:

49.

ED-32

Narrative descriptions of student performance and of non-cognitive achievement should be included as part of evaluations in all required courses and clerkships where teacher-student interaction permits this form of assessment.

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D.  Curriculum Management

1. Roles and Responsibilities

50.

ED-33

There must be integrated institutional responsibility for the overall design, management and evaluation of a coherent and coordinated curriculum.

Conclusion:

Comment:

51.

ED-34

The program's faculty must be responsible for the detailed design and implementation of the components of the curriculum.

Conclusion:

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52.

ED-35

The objectives, content, and pedagogy of each segment of the curriculum, as well as for the curriculum as a whole, must be subject to periodic review and revision by the faculty.

Conclusion:

Comment:

53.

ED-36

The chief academic officer must have sufficient resources and authority to fulfill the responsibility for the management and evaluation of the curriculum.

Conclusion:

Comment:

54.

ED-37

The faculty committee responsible for the curriculum must monitor the content provided in each discipline so that the school's educational objectives will be achieved.

Conclusion:

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55.

ED-38

The committee should give careful attention to the impact on students of the amount of work required, including the frequency of examinations and their scheduling.

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D.  2. Geographically Separated Programs

56.

ED-39

The medical school's chief academic officer must be responsible for the conduct and quality of the educational program and for assuring the adequacy of faculty at all educational sites.

Conclusion:

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57.

ED-40

The principal academic officer of each geographically remote site must be administratively responsible for the chief academic officer of the medical school conducting he educational program.

Conclusion:

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58.

ED-41

The faculty in each discipline at all sites must be functionally integrated by appropriate administrative mechanisms.

Conclusion:

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59.

ED-42

There must be a single standard for promotion and graduation of students across geographically separate campuses.

Conclusion:

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60.

ED-43

The parent school must assume ultimate responsibility for the selection and assignment of all medical students when geographically separated campuses are operated.

Conclusion:

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61.

ED-44

Students assigned to all campuses should receive the same rights and support services.

Conclusion:

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62.

ED-45

Students should have the opportunity to move among the component programs of the school.

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E.  Evaluation of Program Effectiveness

63.

ED-46

To guide program improvement, medical schools must evaluate the effectiveness of the educational program by documenting the extent to which its objectives have been met.

Conclusion:

Comment:

64.

ED-47

In assessing program quality, schools must consider student evaluations of their courses and teachers, and an appropriate variety of outcome measures.

Conclusion:

Comment:

65.

ED-48

Medical schools must evaluate the performance of their students and graduates in the framework of national norms of accomplishment.

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III.  Medical Students

A. Admissions

1. Premedical Requirements

66.

MS-1

Students preparing to study medicine should acquire a broad education, including the humanities and social sciences.

Conclusion:

Comment:

67.

MS-2

Premedical course requirements should be restricted to those deemed essential preparation for completing the medical school curriculum.

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  2. Selection

68.

MS-3

The faculty of each school must develop criteria and procedures for the selection of students that are readily available to potential applicants and to their collegiate advisors.

Conclusion:

Comment:

69.

MS-4

The final responsibility for selecting students to be admitted for medical study must reside with a duly constituted faculty committee.

Conclusion:

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70.

MS-5

Each medical school must have a pool of applicants sufficiently large and possessing national level qualifications to fill its entering class.

Conclusion:

Comment:

71.

MS-6

Medical schools must select students who possess the intelligence, integrity, and personal and emotional characteristics necessary for them to become effective physicians.

Conclusion:

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72.

MS-7

The selection of individual students must not be influenced by any political or financial factors.

Conclusion:

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73.

MS-8

Each medical school should have policies and practices ensuring the gender, racial, cultural, and economic diversity of its students.

Conclusion:

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74.

MS-9

Each school must develop and publish technical standards for admission of handicapped applicants, in accordance with legal requirements.

Conclusion:

Comment:

75.

MS-10

The institution's catalog or equivalent informational materials must describe the requirements for the M.D. and all associated joint degree programs, provide the most recent academic calendar for each curricular option, and describe all required courses and clerkships offered by the school.

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76.

MS-11

The catalog or informational materials must also enumerate the school's criteria for selecting students, and describe the admissions process.

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3.  Visiting and Transfer Students

77.

MS-12

Institutional resources to accommodate the requirements of any visiting and transfer students must not significantly diminish the resources available to existing enrolled students.

Conclusion:

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78.

MS-13

Transfer students must demonstrate achievements in premedical education and medical school comparable to those of students in the class that they join.

Conclusion:

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79.

MS-14

Prior coursework taken by students who are accepted for transfer or admission to advanced standing must be compatible with the program to be entered.

Conclusion:

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80.

MS-15

Transfer students should not be accepted into the final year of the program except under rare circumstances.

Conclusion:

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81.

MS-16

The accepting school should verify the credentials of visiting students, formally register and maintain a complete roster of such students, approve their assignments, and provide evaluations to their parent schools.

Conclusion:

Comment:

82.

MS-17

Students visiting from other schools for clinical clerkships and electives must possess qualifications equivalent to students they will join in these experiences.

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B.  Student Services

1. Academic and Career Counseling

83.

MS-18

The system of academic advising for students must integrate the efforts of faculty members, course directors, and student affairs officers with the school's counseling and tutorial services.

Conclusion:

Comment:

84.

MS-19

There must be a system to assist students in career choice and application to residency programs, and to guide students in choosing elective courses.

Conclusion:

Comment:

85.

MS-20

If students are permitted to take electives at other institutions, there should be a system centralized in the dean's office to review students' proposed extramural programs prior to approval and to ensure the return of a performance appraisal by the host program.

Conclusion:

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