Standards

Existence and availability of Standards

The IMEAc executive board has agreed to use standards adopted from WFME Global standards in accrediting medical schools in Thailand since 2013. The COTMES and IMEAc appointed committee to translate the WFME standards version 2012 and 2015 version into Thai language and distributed to all medical schools in Thailand. The WFME global standards of English and Thai languages can be accessed and downloaded from the website of IMEAc.

In 2017, the IMEAc has integrated the WFME.BME standards The 2015 Revision with the Standards of Thai Medical Council (15 quality components) to be National Standards for establishment/revision of medical programs and approval of medical schools (TMC.WFME.BME Standards (2017))

Type of the standards

Since 2001, the accreditation task force under the COTMES used medicine-specific standards to accredit medical schools. The standards have been modified periodically from 2001 version to 2012 version.

In 2013, COTMES adopted WFME.BME The 2012 Revision to accredit Thai medical schools. In 2016, IMEAc has adopted WFME.BME The 2015 Revision. In 2017, IMEAc has released the new National Standards (TMC.WFME.BME. Standards (2017) that combine WFME.BME The 2015 Revision standards and Thai Medical Council Standards (15 Quality components)

In 2020-2021, IMEAc revised the TMC.WFME.BME. Standards with the input of updated medical education, advanced information technology, local context, and the draft WFME Basic Medical Education Standards 2020 Revision. The 2021 Revision has similar structure of 2017 Revision, composed of 9 areas, 35 subareas, and total 186 standards, comprising 117 basic standards and 69 quality development standards. The TMC.WFME.BME. Standards (2021) has been released in January 2021. To let the medical schools adapt for the new standards, the standards are set to be effective from 1 July 2021. The standards can be downloaded from the website www.imeac.org

In 2022, IMEAc revised “Standard Criteria for New Medical School”. The revised standard covered the trend in medical education, advanced technology, local context and society changes. The “Standard Criteria for New Medical School” was released in December 2022. It comprised 9 areas, 30 subareas, 97 Basic standard criteria and 14 Quality development standard criteria.

In 2023, IMEAc developed “IMEAc Standards for Quality Improvement: Basic Medical Education 2023 (IMEAc.WFME.BME.Standards)” for medical schools outside Thailand. It comprised 9 areas, 35 subareas, 116 Basic standard criteria and 69 Quality development standard criteria (total 185 criteria)

Appropriateness of the standards

The IMEAc has policy to review the standards periodically to ensure that the standards are rigorous and appropriate to warrant the quality of the education program provided at the accredited medical schools. The IMEAc has collected feedback from stakeholders especially accredited medical schools for considering that the standards and process are sufficiently rigorous and appropriate to ensure the quality of the education or training provided at accredited medical schools.

Review of the standards

The IMEAc has protocol to review and develop the standards to be used in accreditation. Evidences such as society needs, recommendations from the National Congress for Medical Education, recommendations from the Health Professional Education Reform committee, the revised WFME Global Standards for Basic Medical Education, etc. are continuously collected and considered. IMEAc will appoint a working group comprising major and relevant stakeholders to review and develop the standards. This working group would review the standards periodically and report to the IMEAc executive board biannually or as needed.

Flow:

  • The working group would review the health needs, needs from all stakeholders and global/regional health challenges for revision of the standards.
  • The working group collects feedback from assessor teams and medical schools.
  • The working group reviews the standards.
  • The working group submits the revised standards to the IMEAc executive board to endorse the use of revised standards. IMEAc will submit the standards for approval from COTMES who will submit to Thai Medical Council to approve and release. The revised standards will be distributed to all Thai medical schools and relevant stakeholders.

Updated: 1 March 2021

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