For more than two years, hundreds of people across The University of New Mexico School of Medicine worked toward a common goal.
Faculty reviewed curriculum. Students shared feedback about their educational experiences. Staff and faculty gathered data and prepared hundreds of pages of documentation. Educational leaders evaluated every aspect of the medical school, looking not only at what was working well, but also where improvements could be made. School of Medicine departments, including faculty, students, administrators, residents and community partners all played a role.
Their work culminated in one of the highest recognitions a medical school can receive.
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the national accrediting body for medical education programs leading to the MD degree, recently granted the UNM School of Medicine the maximum accreditation term available following its comprehensive review. The eight-year accreditation affirms that UNM meets the rigorous national standards required to educate future physicians and positions the School of Medicine for continued growth as it works to expand New Mexico’s healthcare workforce.
For School of Medicine Dean Patricia Finn, MD, the accomplishment belongs to far more than a handful of leaders.
“I am grateful to each and every person who participated in this process,” she said. “I had the honor of debriefing with the LCME site visit team at the end of their visit. They shared how impressed they were with our whole team, the culture of UNM, and our commitment to the people of New Mexico.”
Our mission and our goal is to take care of the people in New Mexico. We will increase the number of healthcare professionals we train, with the goal of serving the entire state of New Mexico—our rural and urban populations
– Patricia Finn, MD, Dean, UNM School of Medicine
The accreditation process evaluates every aspect of a medical school’s educational mission, from curriculum and student support to faculty, research opportunities and clinical training. Every accredited medical school in the country is measured against the same national standards.
“If you were a pilot, you would have to go through training, get your license, be accredited relative to other pilots, and show a level of excellence,” Finn said. “That is what accreditation is. It’s a review process. It’s a standardization.”
She said those standards ensure students receive the education they need to become physicians, regardless of where they attend medical school.
Accreditation is also valuable for students’ futures. Graduating from an LCME-accredited medical school enhances students’ ability to continue their training through residency and, ultimately, become licensed physicians.
View of UNM Hospital from North Campus. Photo Credit: Allan Stone
The work required to achieve reaccreditation begins long before site visitors arrive on campus.
“It’s about a two-year process just to prepare for the site visit,” said Rebecca Hartley, PhD, the associate dean for undergraduate medical education, who serves as the School of Medicine’s LCME continuous quality improvement director.
Preparation centered on three major efforts: completing a several-hundred-page data collection instrument documenting compliance with every accreditation standard, conducting an institutional self-study and facilitating an independent student analysis that allowed students to evaluate their educational experience.
Just as importantly, the work did not stop between accreditation cycles.
“In between, we do something called continuous quality improvement where we routinely review every single element of every standard,” Hartley said. “The standards themselves are modified by the LCME every year.”
Rather than treating accreditation as a one-time event, Hartley said the School of Medicine uses the process to strengthen its educational programs over time.
“We constantly look at what we’re doing and we make improvements,” she said. “It’s always iterative. We’re always in the process of improving.”
The preparation itself reflected the collaborative culture of the School of Medicine.
Hartley estimates that roughly 75 people worked directly on the self-study over two years, while several hundred faculty, staff, students, residents, school leaders and administrators ultimately participated in interviews and extensive preparation or other aspects of the site visit.
Finn believes that broad participation was one of the institution’s greatest strengths.
“Medicine today is an absolute team effort,” she said. “Every single person who touched this was involved and engaged.”
Finn noted that if she gathered everyone from the School of Medicine into one room and asked who contributed to the accreditation effort, “every single person in that room should raise that hand because everyone has had some impact on the lives of our trainees.”
That spirit of collaboration also stood out to the accreditation team.
“I think the site visitors were most impressed by the people they met with—how dedicated they were to the mission of the School of Medicine,” Hartley said. “They really saw that our faculty, our students, our staff are all living the mission.”
We constantly look at what we’re doing and we make improvements. It’s always iterative. We’re always in the process of improving
– Rebecca Hartley, PhD, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Medical Education & Director, LCME Continuous Quality Improvement, UNM School of Medicine
Teresa A. Vigil-Baca, MD, senior associate dean for education, said the successful review reflects the dedication of the entire School of Medicine community.
“We extend our appreciation to the faculty, staff, residents and students whose engagement strengthened our mission and reflected our shared commitment to excellence in medical education and service to New Mexico,” Vigil-Baca said.
Receiving the maximum accreditation term is more than recognition for work already completed. Finn said it is also an important step toward the School of Medicine’s future.
“Our plan is to double the number of the healthcare professionals we train over the next 10 years,” she said.
That goal depends on maintaining the highest educational standards while expanding opportunities to train more physicians for New Mexico.
“Receiving an eight-year accreditation is a huge step toward that goal,” Finn said. “To increase the size of your medical school, you need to request approval from the LCME and demonstrate that you have the capacity to expand. They have just given us eight years, so now we can begin discussing with the LCME how expansion will look.”
For Hartley, the accomplishment should also reassure New Mexicans that their state’s only academic medical center continues to prepare physicians at the highest national standards.
“It’s really good for the state to know that they have an accredited medical school that meets the highest standard in order to train our students to go out and take care of New Mexicans,” she said.
While the eight-year accreditation is cause for celebration, both Finn and Hartley emphasized that the work continues.
Our plan is to double the number of the healthcare professionals we train over the next 10 years
– Teresa A. Vigil-Baca, MD, Senior Associate Dean for Education, UNM School of Medicine
Accreditation is not a finish line, but a reflection of a culture that values continuous improvement, accountability and excellence. It is also a reminder that educating future physicians is never the work of one person or one office. It requires the commitment of an entire academic medical center united around a shared mission.
For Finn, that mission has always extended beyond the walls of the School of Medicine.
“Our mission and our goal is to take care of the people in New Mexico,” she said. “We will increase the number of healthcare professionals we train, with the goal of serving the entire state of New Mexico—our rural and urban populations.”
For the hundreds of faculty, staff, students and partners who helped make it possible, the eight-year accreditation is more than the end of a rigorous review—it is another step toward building a healthier future for New Mexico.
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