The Liaison Committee on Medical Education's preliminary accreditation report for Central Michigan University's College of Medicine highlights several areas that require improvement for compliance with medical school standards.

The report, sent Feb. 24 to University President George Ross, counts three areas of strength, six areas of "insufficient progress toward compliance" and 10 areas in "compliance, with monitoring" after the evaluation of an ad hoc survey team. The LCME evaluation will also require CMED officials to submit three follow-up reports throughout 2012 on areas of insufficient progress or areas in need of monitoring.

Areas of insufficient progress toward compliance include a lack of detailed plans for medical students' research plans, a need for a finalized operational plan for assessing medical students' progress with educational objectives, a need for a better method of evaluating the learning environment, a need for improvement on the standards of conduct for faculty and students and a lack of instructional faculty.

The Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, which received preliminary accreditation from LCME in February of 2010, had no "areas of insufficient progress toward compliance" in accordance with accreditation standards. The school was also evaluated to have six areas of strength: twice the amount given to CMED.

Dr. Ernest Yoder, CMED founding dean, said the continued work toward fulfilling LCME's standards will help to ensure the first CMU medical students will receive a proper education.

"This is the LCME validating for us the areas of focus. They're helping to guide us in the timing of certain aspects of work and preparation we are doing for greeting our first class of students," Yoder said. "They are an accrediting body that actually works along with the schools in assuring that the students will get what they should get when they come to the school. They're a guiding partner in a way."

The three areas of strength for CMED, according to the LCME evaluation, include an acceptable "structure for planning and implementation of a regional approach to graduate medical education," "the fact that the College of Medicine engaged members of the regional community in the creation of its mission" and "the university’s extensive experience with distance learning and multiple delivery methods for instruction."

The first two reports required by LCME will need to update the status of areas of insufficient progress toward accreditation and areas in need of monitoring, including student procedures, student assessment, bylaws, program objectives, standards of conduct, sufficient faculty and student research opportunities must be sent by April 15 and Aug. 15. The final report, which must update the state of medical school finances, medical student debt and the structure of the longitudinal care clerkship, is due by Dec. 15.

Yoder said the required reports due in April, August and December will help maintain conversation between LCME and CMED and bring the evaluated areas into compliance with medical school standards.

"If they have additional questions, then they would generate those for us and if they wanted anything additional besides what we sent in the reports, they would ask for that," Yoder said. "It is an ongoing conversation between the college and the LCME"