Accreditation Overview
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Standards of Accreditation
The Canadian Residency Accreditation Consortium (or CanRAC) is composed of the three residency education accrediting colleges in Canada: Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC), College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), and Collège des médecins du Québec (CMQ). This partnership developed Canadian Excellence in Residency Education (or CanERA), which is a conjoint accreditation process built on robust standards that set high and uniform expectations.
PGME, as well as each of its accredited residency and Area of Focused Competence (AFC) fellowship programs, are all governed by the CanERA Standards of Accreditation. Read about the General Standards and the Discipline-Specific standards below.
The General Standards of Accreditation for Institutions with Residency Programs are national standards that apply to the accreditation of institutions with residency programs. These standards apply to faculties of medicine, postgraduate offices, and learning sites, written to provide a framework which aims to provide clarity of expectations, while maintaining flexibility for innovation.
The General Standards of Accreditation for Residency Programs and the General Standards of Accreditation for AFC Programs are national standards that apply to faculties of medicine, postgraduate offices, and learning sites, written to provide a framework which aims to provide clarity of expectations, while maintaining flexibility for innovation. These standards should be read in conjunction with the standards of accreditation specific to each discipline.
Read the General Standards for Residency Programs Read the General Standards for AFC Programs
In addition to the general standards, each discipline also has accreditation expectations specific to the discipline that residency and AFC programs must comply with. These standards build upon the general standards of accreditation for residency programs.
Discipline-Specific Standards for Family Medicine
The standards for the core two-year and enhanced skills Family Medicine programs are set out in what is often referred to as the "Red Book", which is an integrated document that includes the expectations specific to residency programs as well as those set out in the General Standards. As such, the Red Book does not need to be read in conjunction with the general standards.
Discipline-Specific Standards for Royal College Disciplines (Residency & AFC)
For each Royal College (RCPSC) discipline, there is a set of standards unique to each residency and AFC program, which must be read in conjunction with the general standards.
What happens during an accreditation visit?
Physicians and Surgeons appointed by the accrediting colleges, referred to as the “surveyors”, come to the University of Alberta to complete a full review of the accreditation standards at both the program and institutional levels to ensure standards are being met and/or exceeded.
PGME works closely with the accrediting colleges and the programs to structure the timing of accreditation surveys and is the primary contact between the colleges and the program. In advance of the accreditation visit, both the programs and the PGME gather appropriate documentation and report, via the CanAMS tool, on their activity addressing new and current states of previously identified areas for improvement (AFIs). Surveyors then access these documents to prepare for the visit. Part of this preparation includes determining the questions they want to ask in the onsite meetings with key stakeholders (trainees, program directors, program administrators, Residency Program Committee or AFC Program Committee, Competence Committee or equivalent, faculty, leadership, etc.). Meetings with the surveyors are held in the strictest of confidence without any other stakeholder group present. In the final report provided by the surveyors and the accrediting college, concerns and issues raised remain completely anonymous.
Accreditation Statuses
All accreditation reviews (sometimes called surveys) result in an accreditation status and a required follow-up awarded to the program based on the evaluation on the applicable standards during the review. These statuses and definitions are set by CanERA.
Below are the two possible statuses and their respective possible follow-ups:
- Status: Accredited Program
- Follow-up: Next Regular Accreditation Review
- Follow-up: Action Plan Outcomes Report (APOR)
- Follow-up: External Review
- Status: Accredited Program on Notice of Intent to Withdraw Accreditation
- Follow-up: External Review
Click here to read through CanERA’s expanded definitions on the accreditation status and follow-ups.
It is important to note that an Internal accreditation review results in a mock accreditation status & follow-up that is not shared with the accrediting college and does change a program’s current accreditation status.
The Canadian Accreditation Management System (CanAMS)
CanRAC built the online Canadian Accreditation Management System (CanAMS) to help facilitate the process for surveyors to review documents in preparation for accreditation reviews (both internal and external). The system is also used to manage program documents throughout the eight-year accreditation cycle. All Program Directors and Program Administrators have access to their program in CanAMS.
For additional information about using CanAMS (e.g., training, general inquiries, access, etc.) please contact pgaccred@ualberta.ca.
New Program Accreditation (Residency or AFC)
The development of new Residency or AFC programs seeking accreditation is overseen by the Assistant Dean, PGME. For more information on the steps to receive accreditation, please contact pgaccred@ualberta.ca.