The CUNY School of Medicine is Accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) with Provisional status
LCME
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accredits all new and existing medical schools in the U.S. and Canada. It is jointly sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Council on Medical Education of the American Medical Association.
You can learn more about the LCME here:
https://lcme.org/about/
As you know, the CUNY School of Medicine is a new school and is in the process of achieving full accreditation.
The school is currently Provisionally approved.
The LCME accreditation process progresses, in sequence, from Preliminary to Provisional, to Full accreditation. The LCME granted the CUNY School of Medicine Preliminary accreditation status in 2015 and Provisional status in 2018. In 2020 the school was continued on Provisional status on Probation. In 2022 the Probationary status was lifted. The school will work towards Full Accreditation in the Spring of 2023. The school is listed on the LCME website of accredited schools here:
https://lcme.org/directory/accredited-u-s-programs/
Provisional Accreditation allows students to
1. Sit for USMLE Licensing exams
2. Be eligible to match in an ACGME accredited residency program.
What data goes into the LCME’s decision about a school’s accreditation?
The LCME survey team reviews three sets of data: The Independent Student Analysis (ISA), where a group of current medical students surveys their peers and compiles a report focused on questions about the LCME standards; the Data Collection Instrument (DCI), where the school describes how it accomplishes the LCME’s 12 standards; and the Institutional Self-Study, where an appointed task force of faculty, staff and students evaluates the DCI and ISA to determine strengths and challenges related to accreditation elements, and outline plans and activities to improve the school. All three sources of information are critical to the LCME’s decision-making.
LCME Findings
The LCME reviewed the school on 12 standards which include 93 elements.
These cover topics from the curriculum, to finances, and personal counseling, and the list can be seen here: https://lcme.org/publications/
The LCME assigns 1 of 3 ratings to each of the 93 elements:
Satisfactory, meaning the policy, process, resource, or system required by the element is in place and, if required, there is sufficient evidence that it is effective.
Satisfactory with a Need for Monitoring, meaning 1) The policy, process, resource, or system required by the element exists but there is, as yet, insufficient evidence of sustainability and/or effectiveness; or 2) The requirements of the element currently are met but current or anticipated circumstances could impact future performance, or Unsatisfactory, meaning one or more aspects of the element is/are not met.
The LCME found the CUNY program's performance Satisfactory in 83 elements, with 10 elements requiring improvement. The school is focused on making the required improvements, and work is progressing in each area. This work of students, staff, and faculty will ensure that the school is fully compliant with every accreditation requirement. The chart below is a summary of the findings and current progress.
Satisfactory with a Need for Monitoring
|
Element |
Finding |
Progress Note |
|
Element 2.3 Access and authority of the Dean Element 5.1 Adequate financial resources Element 5.2 Dean’s authority over resources |
The Dean was found to have authority and access to adequate finances and resources. This will need to be monitored |
The Dean meets with the President and the CFO of CCNY on a routine basis. She also meets with the Chancellor. We hired an Associate Dean for Clinical Administration, Finance and Strategy who has confirmed the loci and medical school access to financial reporting and account balances for medical school funds in CCNY, CUNY, The Foundation and The Research Foundation. Adequate financial resources are on hand. |
|
Element 8.3 Curricular design, review, revision/content monitoring |
Improvement was found in low satisfaction with the integration in the pre-clerkship curriculum |
Student LCME champions are assisting faculty to improve and maintain satisfaction with integration in the pre-clerkship curriculum. |
|
Element 9.3 Clinical supervision of medical students |
A system is in place to ensure that students are not on the same clinical care team as students from other schools |
The system is being monitored to ensure students are evaluated according to the CUNY School of Medicine educational program objectives |
|
Element 11.1 Academic Advising |
Need data to show increased student satisfaction with improvements in academic advising. |
Staffing in the academic advising office is being expanded to add a director of advising and a new technology manager. We will also be working to make sure students have a clear understanding of the efforts and activities that constitute “academic advising”. |
|
Element 11.2 Career Advising
|
Need data to show increased student satisfaction with improvements in career advising |
Advising staffing to be expanded and also efforts to raise student awareness of the range of activities (such as SIG events and programming) are a part of career advising. Expand mentoring and guidance in this area by faculty and alums. Expanding access to support for resume and letter writing. |
Unsatisfactory
|
Element |
Finding |
Progress |
|
Element 3.2 Community of scholars/research opportunities |
Need data to show improvement in student satisfaction and access to research opportunities |
Increased dissemination of research opportunities to students. Increased support for the application of our students to research opportunities (CV, personal statements, and mock interviews) Increased CUNY School of Medicine funding for research opportunities. Increased recognition of research accomplishments of our students. |
|
Element 5.11 Study/lounge/storage space/call room |
Need data to show increased access to study space on campus and in clinical sites. |
Working to develop a CUNY student study space at SBH. An online study room scheduling system was launched this spring. There are plans to upgrade monitors and add coffee and vending machines in the student lounge for the fall. |
|
Element 12.3 Personal counseling/well-being programs |
Need data to show increased satisfaction and access to personal counseling |
Hired an Associate Dean for Wellness and Student Life. Establishing an on-campus student counseling service to complement the off-campus team of clinicians that are currently available to students. Expand staffing and availability of counseling services. More on -campus psychoeducation, gatekeeper training and wellness activities and resources. Work to raise student awareness of these efforts. The school will be participating in the Jed Campus and Healthy Minds Studies in the fall which will provide a detailed roadmap for program evaluation and enhancements. More information about the Jed foundation/Healthy Minds Studies can be found by clicking on these links https://jedfoundation.org/jed-campus/ |
Student Section
Dear Students,
Thank you to all of our LCME student champions, student government representatives as well as other student volunteers for the hard work you have done over the past two years. In 2020, when the school needed students to help us with the accreditation process nearly 50 students volunteered. Despite the fact that it was one of the most tumultuous and disruptive moments in our personal and national history, you stepped up and worked so diligently to help our school identify the issues that needed to be addressed, come up with solutions, and messaged our progress to the school community. Because of all this time and effort, we moved forward in our accreditation process and our school will be working extremely hard to reach full accreditation status in the spring of 2023. We will do more to improve our school, particularly in the areas of student research opportunities; personal counseling and wellness programs; study space; integration and coordination of our basic sciences curriculum, and career advising. We will continue to seek student input and message our improvements to the school community.
As we come to the end of the school year, we want to congratulate you on your academic success and wish a big congratulations to the class of 2022.
CUNY School of Medicine LCME team
See below for some updates on things that you asked for and we accomplished:
You let us know that Fundamentals was too many hours in a short period of time
We made it a two-semester course starting in fall 2022.
You said that clinical anatomy had too much content
We moved anatomy into the organ systems modules.
You said UWorld was too expensive
The school pays for students to have a subscription for both step 1 and step 2.
You asked for practice interviews for residency interviews
We set up mock interviews for every student.
You asked for a better system to use the study rooms on campus.
We are working towards having study rooms that are accessible 24/7. Students have been given access cards.
You asked for better access to mental health care
We are establishing an on-campus student counseling service to complement the current off-campus counseling offerings supported by the college. Students who are able to benefit from briefer care will be able to be seen on campus either in person or virtually. Students requiring longer-term care will be able to continue being seen through our off-campus clinicians. This should dramatically reduce waiting times for appointments and allow for more active psychoeducation and other wellness activities to be provided on campus.
You asked for Increased access to internal and external research opportunities, better communication and more structured information about opportunities available
We Responded:
• Weekly emails about research opportunities are sent
• Link on the Research website outlining opportunities
• Formal linkages with medical schools and affiliate clinical sites in NYC as well as nationally have been established
• A structured application format for all opportunities has been established
• Monetary support for research internships (experiences?) inclusive of external sites has been secured
You asked for mentoring on how to obtain research opportunities and how to apply for research
We Responded:
• Weekly one-on-one sessions with Drs. Lisa Coico and Maria Lima are available to align student research interests with internal or external opportunities
• Links to plug and play (or boilerplate) research CV and instructions on how to email investigators have been added to the research website
You asked for more opportunities for students who do not have prior research experience and an explanation of how research works
We Responded:
• Research will be part of the pre-matriculation program
• U1 Research Elective
Please feel free to email Lisa Auerbach CUNY School of Medicine, LCME Accreditation Faculty Lead,
lauerbach@med.cuny.edu
or Annabel Santana, Associate Dean for Special Projects,
Santana@med.cuny.edu
with any questions or suggestions about accreditation.
Last Updated: 06/15/2022 11:13