LCME grants provisional accreditation to FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine

FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine Receives Provisional Accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education - LCME is the Nationally Recognized Accrediting Authority for Medical Education Programs Leading to the Doctor of Medicine Degree in the United States and Canada.

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) has granted provisional accreditation to the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University. The LCME is the nationally recognized accrediting authority for medical education programs leading to the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) in the United States and Canada. LCME accreditation provides assurance that programs awarding the M.D. degree meet the national standards for educational quality.

"The Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine has accomplished an important milestone in receiving provisional accreditation and I couldn't be more proud," said FAU President Mary Jane Saunders. "The College's early success and accomplishments are truly indicative of the caliber of its faculty, staff and students."

All medical schools must complete five steps to become fully accredited by the LCME. FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine has achieved four of those steps. A site visit will take place in October 2014 and a final decision on full accreditation will be made when the LCME meets in February 2015.

"Achieving provisional accreditation is an important step in our development and growth," said Dr. David J. Bjorkman, M.D., M.S.P.H., dean of FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine. "It is also a testament to our faculty, staff and our clinical and community partners who have been instrumental in laying the foundation to build our successful new medical school."

In 2010, the Florida Board of Governors authorized the creation of the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine. The College received preliminary accreditation in February 2011, and admitted its inaugural class of 64 students in August 2011 and its second class of 64 students in August 2012. The College will welcome its third class of 64 students this August, and has received nearly 3,100 applications for 64 positions in the entering class of 2013.

The M.D. program, titled the "Integrated Patient Focused Curriculum" is based on the principle that future physicians should learn essential basic science information in the context of patient care, patient case studies and the practice of clinical skills. This innovative curriculum provides a student-centered and patient-focused approach. The College uses a community-based model of medicine, and more than 700 local physicians together with local hospitals and health departments provide hands-on clinical experiences for the students from the first day of medical school. Seven leading hospitals in South Florida are currently serving as year-three clerkship sites for the College. During clinical trainings, students have the opportunity to work side-by-side with physicians in the diagnosis and treatment of patients, applying knowledge learned from the first two years of study to real-life situations. Medical students are also exposed to advanced medical cases in cardiology, infectious diseases, pulmonary diseases, renal disorders and a host of other scenarios using computer controlled high-fidelity mannequins in the College's state-of-the-art medical simulation center.

To ensure that the region will have an adequate and well-trained physician workforce, FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine and five Palm Beach County hospitals formed the Graduate Medical Education (GME) Consortium in late 2011, to further the University's commitment to increasing much needed residency positions in Palm Beach County.