Graduate medical education programs receive initial accreditation, reaccreditation

Siva Parcha, M.D., second from right, assistant professor of internal medicine, rounds at University Hospital with a team of internal medicine residents, from left, Seema Mir, M.D., Samar Abohamad, M.D., and Andrew Dep, M.D.

It has been a successful spring for the graduate medical education programs at USA Health and the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine at the University of South Alabama.

The overall institution and many of the fellowship and residency training programs have received renewals from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Other programs have been reviewed, and the review committees for them will meet in the future to make final determinations.

Emergency medicine residents gather outside the Fanny
Meisler Trauma Center. The residency program was
established in 2019. 

“Every year, the institutional program and each of the individual programs undergo an online renewal process,” said Judy Blair-Elortegui, M.D., associate dean for graduate medical education at the Whiddon College of Medicine. “We submit information related to program performance, any major changes in the program, and information related to compliance with the ACGME requirements.” Then periodically, the ACGME conducts a site visit to provide a more in-depth review of the program or sponsoring institution. Since COVID, these site visits have been conducted virtually.

Additionally, faculty and residents complete an annual survey. The responses from the residents are weighed heavily in the reaccreditation process. 

Along with the institutional program renewal, the programs for family medicine, sports medicine, internal medicine, cardiology, gastroenterology, pulmonary critical care, medical oncology, neurology, clinical neurophysiology, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopaedic surgery, pathology, psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, general surgery, surgery critical care, and combined internal medicine-pediatrics all received continued accreditation.

New programs have formal site visits approximately two years following their establishment. USA Health’s sports medicine fellowship for family medicine and the emergency medicine residency program fit into that category this year. Both received their initial accreditations. The addiction medicine fellowship for psychiatry underwent its site review in May and is awaiting its committee’s report. The gynecologic oncology program is still in its initial accreditation period.

“Having this many new programs is a marker of the growth we have experienced at USA Health,” Blair-Elortegui said. “I believe that our programs' demonstration of meeting/exceeding the accreditation standards of the ACGME reflects the high quality of medical education provided to our resident and fellow physicians. It’s evident the expansion of our academic health system in recent years has provided new learning opportunities and resources for our trainees, enhancing their educational experience.”