Exploring the Role of Accreditation in Enhancing Quality and Innovation in Health Professions Education Proceedings of a Workshop (2017) / Chapter Skim
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2 Varying Views on Accreditation
2 Varying Views on Accreditation
Pages 7-32
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From page 7... ...
There are issues that surround the topic -- such as the accreditor's role in imple mentation and whether the accreditor provides guidance on quality improvements or a pathway to implementation -- that also need to be considered. (Holmboe)
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From page 8... ...
University at Albany, State University of New York Susan Phillips, professor of counseling psychology of the University at Albany, State University of New York, began her presentation by explaining that accreditation refers to a process for external quality review used by higher education to scrutinize colleges, universities, and educational programs for quality assurance and quality improvement (Eaton, 2011)
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From page 9... ...
Phillips focused on two main challenges for accreditors: first, challenges from and for the profession, and second, challenges from and for the larger governmental regulatory context.
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The profession's role is to reflect practice now and to envision how professional practice will evolve going forward; the educators' roles are to translate the needed competencies now and in going forward into a vibrant educational plan; and the accredi 1 For more information about the U.S. Department of Education's federal standards, see www2.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/accreditation_pg13.html (accessed September 21, 2016)
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From page 11... ...
It also includes what is agreed upon as emerging in the profession; but it does not yet reach the far right side of the arrow. The box surrounding the arrow represents the governmental and regulatory context in which the professions and accreditation exist.
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Some of what the regulators expect of accreditation is very reasonable; for example, the insistence on professional engagement in the development and regular review of the quality standards. But some of the expectations are drawn from concerns that are much more removed from professional education, often relating to finances and learning outcomes; usually, these concerns are reflected in government or regulatory perspectives.
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From page 13... ...
Opportunities for Accreditation Phillips saw many unique opportunities for this workshop of the Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education (the Forum) because of its international, multiprofession, and multiaccreditor participation.
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The ovals, representing the accreditation of each profession, all touch -- meaning that they are all connected and related. The box surrounding the arrows represents the larger country governmental and regulatory context that each profession and its accreditaion exist.
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From page 15... ...
Discussion Following Phillips's presentation, workshop co-chair Neil Harvison, American Occupational Therapy Association, opened the floor for questions and comments. Leading off the discussion was Malcolm Cox, University of Pennsylvania and former chief academic affiliations officer of the U.S.
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From page 16... ...
What is important, he said, is how the dialogue between stakeholders is facilitated. Roger Strasser, dean of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in Canada, noted an apparent continuing development of notions and definitions of quality education.
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From page 17... ...
In her mind, this is a huge challenge; conversations about best practices, common struggles and challenges, and feedback and metrics from graduates could enormously benefit the health professions. Jan De Maeseneer from Ghent University in Belgium wondered to what extent accreditation processes should be contextualized according to the needs of the communities where the institution is working and how there can be a mix between universal dimensions and specific contextual dimen
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Vlasses, Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, described the Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors, a network of accreditors that share best practices and are collectively looking at how to be on the side of innovation and visionary ideas. Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors members frequently discuss the preparation of students and entry into practice, yet rarely do they discuss the continuing competence of seasoned professionals and continuing professional development, and the role of accreditation in that area -- especially in the area of interprofessional education (IPE)
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From page 19... ...
According to Holmboe, such a conversation is necessary to begin to sort through the strongly held belief that adding a topic to the accreditation standards will improve education in that area contrasted with the belief that eliminating accreditation standards would remove the barriers to innovation and education reform. To look at these opposing "add versus subtract" positions around standards, Holmboe asked the participants to talk among themselves for 10 minutes in groups of 8 persons or so to consider whether requiring ttention to a topic through accreditation actually improves the quality of a education in that area (see Box 2-1, question 1)
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2. How can an accrediting agency know if an added topic or new criterion actually improved the quality of education?
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Holly Wise from the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy responded that requiring attention to a topic through accreditation can improve quality of education in that area, but it will be frustratingly slow. She also reflected on the diagram presented by Susan Phillips in her opening remarks (see Figure 2-1)
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From page 22... ...
Talib then considered it from an aggregate view. Her table's discussion and debate led her to report that in the short term one could again look at a process evaluation but in the medium and longer term, there might be practice analysis changes or health service delivery environment changes that could be used as measures of quality improvement in education.
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From page 23... ...
Tassone closed with recognition of the accreditation community by saying that accreditors are good at monitoring quality assurance, but providing input for quality improvement presents a challenge given the current accreditation structure. To move in this direction from assurance to improvement would require a culture shift involving all the stakeholders, which could be done but would be a large undertaking.
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From page 24... ...
Tassone also provided additional thoughts on the idea of the inter face between practice and education by drilling down on who the stakeholders are that actually inform the accreditation process, and how to better ensure that the practice community is at the table. Malcolm Cox, University of ennsylvania and former chief academic affiliations officer of the U.S.
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From page 25... ...
Holmboe stated maybe that is a good starting place for different accreditors to come together. PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS OF ACCREDITATION Neil Harvison from the American Occupational Therapy Association opened the session that included two debates.6 The First Debate The first debate was moderated by Rick Talbott of the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions.
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From page 26... ...
The challenge, Wolf said, is to provide enough flexibility in the standards, structures, and processes to assure that time constraints are not major barriers to responsible innovation. Roger Strasser from the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in anada C made the observation that some people in education view the accreditation process very negatively.
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From page 27... ...
The Second Debate Neil Harvison then thanked the first debate team and turned to Holly Wise of the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy to moderate the second debate. She began by explaining the proposition that involves examining benefits and risks associated with accreditation for health professional education in low-resource environments.
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From page 28... ...
In drawing the link to accreditation, Benton said it is about making sure that accreditation systems can stimulate a development, which means having the flexibility to take advantage of opportunities that promote progress rather than being "stuck in the past." Sewankambo responded that low- and middle-income countries need to ensure that the accredita ion process is structured, designed, and understood by accreditors t in ways that appreciate what accreditation should do and not stifle progress or innovation. Similarly, the educational institutions need to understand how they can work within a flexible accreditation system that takes advantage of innovations while also achieving specific requirements set up through the accreditation process.
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From page 29... ...
The last participant comment came from Gary Filerman of the Atlas Health Foundation who offered a word of caution to those who voted in favor of international accreditation standards. In his opinion, globalizing the product or the process of accreditation is a mischievous conversation in many regards.
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From page 30... ...
And while progress may be slow, Newton was heartened by Florida State University and Northern Ontario School of Medicine, who he believes have revolutionized medical school accreditation over the last number of years. It took them half a generation to have an impact but these two examples demonstrate that change is indeed possible.
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From page 31... ...
Presented at the workshop: The Role of Accreditation in Enhancing Quality and Innovation in Health Professions Education. Washington, DC, April 21.
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