""Ultimately, patients are the end users of medical education standards. When accreditation requirements are weakened, patients-especially those already facing barriers to care-bear the consequences," reads an online petition urging the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) to reject the proposed changes it's expected to consider adopting at a private meeting this week. "Strong standards help ensure that physicians are equipped not only to diagnose and treat disease, but also to understand the conditions that influence whether care is accessible, appropriate, and effective.""
"Some medical education experts say that potentially changing the structural competency requirements now is a puzzling move by the LCME, given that it first adopted structural competency standards just a few years ago in an effort to enhance both physician training and patient care. The proposal from the LCME-which sets the accreditation standards for medical schools in the United States and Canada-comes amid heightened state and federal scrutiny of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across higher education, including medical schools."
The medical education community is opposing an LCME proposal to remove explicit requirements to teach structural competency, which explains how social, economic, and political systems influence health outcomes. If approved, medical schools would no longer have to explicitly teach principles of culturally and structurally competent health care or the importance of health-care disparities and inequities. An online petition warns that weakened accreditation requirements harm patients, particularly those facing barriers to care, and stresses that strong standards ensure physicians can diagnose, treat, and understand conditions affecting access, appropriateness, and effectiveness of care. The proposal arises amid political scrutiny of diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education.
Read at Inside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]