What are the ACGME outcomes?

The ACGME makes a distinction between our traditional health care definition of “clinical outcomes” and educational outcomes. The ACGME defines educational outcomes as "evidence showing the degree to which program purposes and objectives are or are not being attained, including achievement of appropriate skills and competencies by students." The old paradigm (apprenticeship model) focused on teaching but not assessment. In the Outcomes Project, evidence for learning (rather than simply teaching) will be required as part of the accreditation process.

What are the specific steps that the ACGME is requiring?

The steps required by the ACGME are listed in Table 4.^16-17 Residency program directors are being charged by the ACGME with four specific tasks: 1) Documentation of the written curriculum (specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to meet the competencies); 2) Listing of the evaluation tools used to test the competencies; 3) Development of outcome measures to insure reliability and validity; and 4) Documentation of evidence for linkage of educational outcomes to program improvement.

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Table 4: ACGME requirements for programs
Step 1: Programs will be asked to develop specific curricula and written goals and objectives for teaching the competencies.
Step 2: Programs will be asked to develop and use an assortment of different evaluation tools (“the tool box”) to assess resident competence in the various areas.
Step 3: After using the tools for a period of time (testing phase), programs will be asked to develop means to document the reliability and validity of the assessment tools.
Step 4: Programs will be asked to link educational outcomes with overall program improvement including assessments that improve aspects of the program that apply to the external stakeholders (e.g. patient surveys, employers, graduates). ^16,17

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