LCME Invites Comments on Proposed Changes to Accreditation Standards

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education, or LCME, will hold a hearing for public comment on proposed changes to medical education program accreditation standards ED-11 and ED-15 during the annual meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges, or AAMC, Nov. 6-11 in Boston. Interested stakeholders also may comment by mail or e-mail.

Although the LCME notes that it typically denies requests to add specific subject areas to its accreditation standards to avoid prescriptively dictating curriculum content, "with the explosion of knowledge, the LCME has recognized a need to provide a framework to assist schools in choosing what content to include in the curriculum." The proposed standard revisions are intended to focus on the desired purpose and outcome of the education rather than on specifying preclinical and clinical disciplines, the LCME says.

Thus, rather than dictating that school curricula must include content covered by specific medically related disciplines, the revised standard ED-11 reads, "The curriculum of the educational program must include content from the biomedical sciences that supports students' mastery of the contemporary scientific knowledge, concepts, and methods fundamental to acquiring and applying science to the health of people and to the contemporary practice of medicine."

Similarly, the revised standard ED-15 reads, "The curriculum of the educational program must prepare students to enter any field of graduate medical education and include content that will prepare students to recognize wellness, determinants of health, opportunities for health promotion, and symptoms and signs of disease; develop differential diagnoses and treatment plans; and assist patients in addressing health-related issues involving all organ systems and spanning the life cycle."

The proposed changes have been approved by the LCME and its sponsoring associations, the AMA Council on Medical Education and the AAMC.

Written comments on the proposed changes may be sent through Dec. 31 to LCME Secretary Barbara Barzansky, M.D., M.H.P.E., at the American Medical Association, 515 N. State St., Chicago, 60654. Comments also may be sent via e-mail. For more information, call Barzansky at 312-464-4933.

The LCME will take final action on the proposed revisions at its Feb. 1-3, 2010, meeting.