The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is the body responsible for accrediting all graduate medical training programs (i.e., internships, residencies, and fellowships, a.k.a. subspecialty programs) for

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

s in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

private council that evaluates and accredits

medical residency Residency or postgraduate training is specifically a stage of graduate medical education. It refers to a qualified physician (one who holds the degree of MD, DO, MBBS, MBChB), veterinarian ( DVM or VMD) , dentist ( DDS or DMD) or podiatrist ( ...

and internship programs.

History

The ACGME was founded in 1981 and was preceded by the Liaison Committee for Graduate Medical Education, which was established in 1972. The ACGME currently oversees the post-graduate education and training for all MD and DO physicians in the United States. The ACGME's member organizations are the

American Board of Medical Specialties Established in 1933, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) is a non-profit organization which represent 24 broad areas of specialty medicine. ABMS is the largest physician-led specialty certification organization in the United States ...

, American Hospital Association,

American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016. The AMA's sta ...

Association of American Medical Colleges The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. that was established in 1876. It represents medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an i ...

, American Osteopathic Association (AOA),

American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine The American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) is a non-profit organization that supports the 38 accredited colleges of osteopathic medicine (COMs) in the United States. These colleges are accredited to deliver instruction ...

(AACOM), and the Council of Medical Specialty Societies each of whom appoints members to the ACGME's board of directors. In 2014, the ACGME, the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and the

(AACOM) announced an agreement to pursue a single, unified accreditation system for graduate medical education programs in the United States beginning in 2015. Plans called for the ACGME to accredit all osteopathic graduate medical education programs, which went into effect on July 1, 2020.

Projects

The Clinical Learning Environment Review project promotes

patient safety Patient safety is a discipline that emphasizes safety in health care through the prevention, reduction, reporting and analysis of error and other types of unnecessary harm that often lead to adverse patient events. The frequency and magnitude of ...

, quality during changes in care, appropriate supervision of care, managing fatigue of residents, and increasing the professionalism of physicians. From July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2020, the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) worked on a single accreditation system for all US residency programs. Before this date, only MD residencies were ACGME-accredited, while DO residencies were AOA-accredited.

Outcome Project

The Outcome Project began in 2001 with a set of assessments for measuring physician competence. By 2009, it was recognized that ACGME measurements could not reliably be evaluated independently of each other and instead should be used together and with other measurements. The ACGME introduced milestones in internal medicine, pediatrics, and surgery for assessing progress of residents toward the six identified competencies. Milestones can be evaluated by numerous methods ranging from direct observation of clinical encounters to

medical simulation Medical simulation, or more broadly, healthcare simulation, is a branch of simulation related to education and training in medical fields of various industries. Simulations can be held in the classroom, in situational environments, or in spaces b ...

Awards

Awards handed out by the ACGME include the David C Leach award and Palmer award. Many of the awardees have notably earned multiple national level awards including both ACGME and American Medical Association award recognition.

References

External links