STUDENTS & RESIDENTS
“There are some challenges, but to me that’s opportunity.
So the second big thing for me was the chance to make a difference, to go somewhere and help to bring about change.
And it won’t be me who does it, but rather the College of
Medicine, the doctors and the citizens of province that do
it. But to help those people bring about the kind of change
that takes our College of Medicine off probation, keeps our
students competitive with everybody in the country, and
gets our research competitive with similar medical schools
and even beyond that, that opportunity to make a difference was very exciting to me. “
The College of Medicine was put on probation by the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) on November 15, 2013, two years after being found
non-compliant with six of 139 standards required of North
American medical schools. Just prior to the probation, the
university introduced The Way Forward, an implementation
plan that will address long-standing accreditation, teaching
and research concerns.
Smith intends to carry through with The Way Forward,
strengthening the college and addressing critical needs, of
which the most pressing is accreditation.
“There is no doubt this is a good medical school that trains
great clinicians,” said Smith. “But there are a number of issues
identified by the accrediting bodies that they feel need to
be fixed to make this comparable to other medical schools.
And that’s really the responsibility of the administration and
leadership of the medical school, to fix accreditation so the
faculty, staff and students can do their jobs.” A plan has already been submitted to the accrediting bodies and work is
being done to ensure the college is ready for the next visit
by the accreditors in May 2015.
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“One of the most important things about The Way Forward is
that it preceded and is totally separate from TransformUS,” adds
Smith. “That’s important because The Way Forward is the basis
for what we told the accrediting bodies we were going to do.”
In order to meet expected requirements and move the college forward, Smith knows he has to actively engage several
key communities, two of the most important being students
and residents. Prior to starting at the college, Smith communicated with the l