Tribune News Network
Doha
Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Medical Education Department recently welcomed distinguished visitors from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-International (ACGME-I), including its President and CEO Dr James Arrighi, MD, reaffirming the strong relationship between both organisations.
The delegation included Executive Director Dr Lorraine Lewis, EdD; and Associate Executive Director William Hart, who along with Dr Arrighi, delivered a workshop for residency and fellowship programme coordinators. The academic workshop topics focused on important programme-related functions, such as collecting and reporting data.
Dr Abdullatif Al Khal, deputy chief medical officer and director of Department for Medical Education, explained the importance of the long-standing partnership between both organisations.
“HMC was the first healthcare system outside of the United States to receive ACGME-I accreditation after Singapore, and a decade later, our relationship with ACGME-I continues to go from strength-to-strength. Maintaining accreditation through a prestigious organisation such as the ACGME-I demonstrates HMC’s commitment to creating an effective learning environment and adopting the highest international standards that helps us develop the future medical specialists to meet the need of the country,” said Dr Khal.
He added, “The continued accreditation of our medical education programmes makes them far more attractive to top medical graduates. We are proud to see many of our young doctors who completed their postgraduate training at HMC working in renowned institutions overseas, having demonstrated high levels of clinical and academic achievements.”
During their visit, the ACGME-I delegation met with the programme directors of HMC’s ACGME-I accredited residency and fellowship training programmes, as well as the leads for programmes interested in applying for future accreditation.
The delegation also had an opportunity to tour the ITQAN Clinical Simulation and Innovation Center, which serves as an important teaching and learning facility for learners from all clinical disciplines. In addition, they visited the Women’s Wellness and Research Center in Hamad Bin Khalifa Medical City.
HMC first received institutional accreditation by the ACGME-I in 2012, and since then, has received programme accreditation for 18 of its residency programmes and 11 of its fellowship programmes.
HMC sponsors 20 residency programmes and many fellowship programmes, as well as several dental residency programmes.
HMC is the first healthcare system in the region to achieve prestigious institutional accreditation by the ACGME International LLC (www.acgme-i.org).
HMC is also accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI) as an Academic Medical Center.
The organisation is a leading member of Qatar’s Academic Health System, with a tripartite mission to advance clinical care through teaching, education and research, and is a primary affiliate of two medical schools in Qatar: Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar and the College of Medicine at Qatar University.
ACGME International (ACGME-I) accreditation demonstrates that graduate medical education programmes outside the United States meet established standards for Institutional, Foundational and Advanced specialty education.
The ACGME-I employs a comprehensive, peer-review process to evaluate and help improve as well as publicly recognize programmes and sponsoring institutions in graduate medical education that meet or even exceed its standards of educational quality.
