Accreditation Council puts medical program on probation
The council has not yet given a reason for the probation.
Published May 8, 2009
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education put a section of MU's School of Medicine on probation
ACGME notified the university of the probation last month but has yet to give the medical school a reason for the action or say what led to the decision to place the school on probation.
"The probation only affects institutional administration, the support for teaching activity, in the resident education program at the school," the school's spokesman Rich Gleba said.
The medical residential program gives graduates of the medical school positions and experience in their specific fields and offers further specialized education for students.
The AGCME's action does not affect undergraduate medical education, the four years of school prior to receiving a medical degree. Gleba said the probation is also not targeted towards MU's 39 individual residency programs and the probation does not affect any medical school students.
"The probation simply means that the ACGME has concerns and we need to find out what those are and make improvements," Gleba said.
The ACGME has as long as 60 days to draft a letter to let the medical school know why the school was placed on probation and what they can do to change that status.
"I haven't seen anything to tell me differently," Gleba said. "That may change at anytime."
Gleba said when AGCME releases their concerns, the school will work quickly and efficiently to fix whatever is in question and that the probation status will not affect the quality of patient care.
The medical school's accreditation will continue if the problems are resolved by the next review by AGCME. If not, the school would either be given another year to take care of whatever issues AGCME finds or will lose its accreditation.