Facilitating Institutional Oversight and Program Improvement Through Educational Competency Committees.

BACKGROUND: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requires programs to engage annually in program evaluation and improvement. OBJECTIVE: We assessed the value of creating educational competency committees (ECCs) that use successful elements of 2 established processes-institutional special reviews and institutional oversight of annual program evaluations. METHODS: The ECCs used a template to review programs' annual program evaluations. Results were aggregated into an institutional dashboard. We calculated the costs, sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value by comparing programs required to have a special review with those that had ACGME citations, requests for a progress report, or a data-prompted site visit. We assessed the value for professional development through a participant survey. RESULTS: Thirty-two ECCs involving more than 100 individuals reviewed 237 annual program evaluations over a 3-year period. The ECCs required less time than internal reviews. The ECCs rated 2 to 8 programs (2.4%-9.8%) as "noncompliant." One to 13 programs (1.2%-14.6%) had opportunities for improvement identified. Institutional improvements were recognized using the dashboard. Zero to 13 programs (0%-16%) were required to have special reviews. The sensitivity of the decision to have a special review was 83% to 100%; specificity was 89% to 93%; and negative predictive value was 99% to 100%. The total cost was $280 per program. Of the ECC members, 86% to 95% reported their participation enhanced their professional development, and 60% to 95% believed the ECC benefited their program. CONCLUSIONS: Educational competency committees facilitated the identification of institution-wide needs, highlighted innovation and best practices, and enhanced professional development. The cost, sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value indicated good value.

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