Stony Brook University School of Medicine has been granted continued full accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the nationally recognized accrediting authority for medical education programs leading to the M.D. degree in the U.S. and Canada. An LCME survey team, which completed a site visit to the School of Medicine in April 2011, voted this fall for full reaccreditation and recognized Stony Brook with five commendations representing the School’s institutional strengths.
The LCME is an accrediting body sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association. Medical schools nationwide must adhere to a process and LCME survey review every eight years for continued accreditation. Some schools receive only preliminary accreditation and other previously accredited schools can be placed on probation or a warning of probation. Stony Brook received reaccreditation with no term specified.
“Stony Brook did spectacularly well in our LCME review, a strong indication of our compliance and creativity in building our medical education program to be among the best in the nation,” said Kenneth Kaushansky, Senior Vice President for the Health Sciences, and Dean, School of Medicine.
The LCME detailed five commendations. These institutional strengths for Stony Brook, in summary, include:
1. The bold and rapid actions taken by the newly appointed dean in addressing problems in the educational program and designed to improve the institution’s performance across all of its core mission areas, a move resonating strongly with faculty and students.
2. Two first-year courses, Medical Physiology and Molecular Foundations of Medicine, have made creative and innovative use of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination as a strategy to integrate the clinical application of students’ basic science knowledge.
3. The medical school has made a strong commitment to strengthening its emphasis on humanities, ethics, and professionalism and created a Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics.
4. Medical student support has been greatly enhanced in the areas of learning and study skills advising and financial aid strategies.
5. The medical school’s Information Technology Department has developed a remarkable electronic platform to capture and track curriculum information, class schedules, student grades and examination administration, clinical experiences logs, and other educational support functions.
According to the LCME, accreditation is “awarded to a program of medical education based on a judgment that there exists an appropriate balance between student enrollment and the total resources of the institution, including faculty, physical facilities, and the operating budget.”
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