WASHINGTON
Howard University Hospital will reorganize its graduate medical education programs in response to concerns expressed by an accrediting council. As part of a long-term strategic effort to advance the hospital’s service to patients and training of new physicians, hospital officials say they will realign the number of new residency slots with the current volume of patients.
In late 2001, the hospital received an “unfavorable ruling” from the Institutional Review Committee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) (see Black Issues, June 20). One of the most frequent and important citations in the review was “insufficient experience/clinical volume for teaching purposes.” In other words, there were not enough patients for the number of residents. The closing of some Washington-area hospitals had reduced the number of training opportunities for residents.
