The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education has granted the Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Division of Continuing Medical Education the status of Accreditation with Commendation, the highest level of accreditation the organization awards.

The medical school’s CME, directed by Therese Johnson, is now accredited through March 2028.

“In addition to feeling relieved, of course, it is rewarding to all of us at CME to have our efforts to maintain the integrity, professionalism and compliance with the ACCME policies recognized with the ‘Accreditation with Commendation’ re-accreditation decision by the ACCME,” Johnson said.

Accreditation with Commendation recognizes the achievements of organizations that advance interprofessional collaborative practice, address public health priorities, create behavioral change, show leadership, leverage educational technology, and demonstrate the impact of education on health care professionals and patients.

The division’s main function is to accredit activities. Accreditation with Commendation also provides for six years of accreditation instead of the standard four. Applying requires evidence of multiple activities demonstrating application of the eight commendation criteria additional to accreditation. The additional criteria require significant time and effort to demonstrate compliance.

“The CME program at WSU is considered ‘extra-large’ by the ACCME in terms of the number of activities accredited,” Johnson added.

In 2021, CME accredited just less than 4,500 activities for approximately 6,500 hours of instruction. The activities were attended by more than 22,000 health care professionals. While the COVID-19 pandemic challenged the health care community, it had a noted effect on CME.

“Most live activities moved to virtual during the past couple of years and, unexpectedly, increased participation, perhaps due to convenience. In addition, CME was faced with working remotely for many months,” Johnson said. “This forced us to revise our processes, and we quickly moved to a completely online application, approval and attendance process for all CME activities. The online effort has proven effective and time saving, as well as providing a convenient method for our attendees to access their transcripts of attendance.”