Accreditation Criteria

In order to evaluate accreditation programs, the Collège uses detailed criteria outlined in the following guides:

• General Standards of Accreditation
  (published by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and the Collège des médecins du Québec)

• Criteria for the Accreditation of Residency Programs in Family Medicine
  (published by the College of Family Physicians of Canada)

Accreditation Activities
In addition to developing accreditation criteria and updating the accreditation list, the Medical Education Division (MED) works in collaboration with the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the College of Family Physicians of Canada to carry out the following activities:

• conduct training program and sites accreditation survey visits every six years among Québec’s four faculties of medicine, including external units and regional training sites;
• determine the accreditation status to be awarded to each program subsequent to these visits;
• conduct control visits within a prescribed timeframe when significant deficiencies have been observed or in cases of new accreditation;
• conduct accreditation survey visits of Québec university offices and medical organisms of Continuing Medical Education (CME)/Continuing Professional Development (CPD) every five years;
• determine the accreditation status to be awarded to each CME/CPD offices subsequent to these visits;
• conduct control visits within a prescribed timeframe when significant deficiencies have been observed;
• work in collaboration with peers to assure that the training standards in the various programs are kept up to date, taking the evolution of existing and the recognition of new specialties into account.

The purpose of these visits is to verify that established criteria are being respected and that general and specific objectives are being attained so as to offer residents and fellows training that is of the highest standards of quality and excellence¹.

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¹ Published in May 2005 by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and the Collège des médecins du Québec, the document entitled Accreditation and the issue of intimidation and harassment in postgraduate medical education guidelines for surveyors and programs provides guidelines for universities that strive to maintain a respectful learning environment within their accredited postdoctoral medical training programs.