Press Release

Graduate medical education also gets new seal of approval

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October 2011

What began as a big week for the Florida State University College of Medicine became even bigger. On Oct. 21, two days after celebrating the news that it had been reaccredited for eight years by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the college got similar news about its graduate medical education program.

That vote of confidence from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education means the medical school can continue to be a sponsoring institution for residency programs, the next step for medical students after their M.D. degree. The College of Medicine has two such programs at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola: one in pediatrics and one in obstetrics-gynecology. It also is launching an internal medicine residency program with Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and a family medicine one with Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers.

“As the first new medical school of the 21st century, it’s very meaningful to have outside validation of the successful outcomes our program is producing,” said Dr. Alma Littles, senior associate dean for medical education and academic affairs.

“We are working hard to prepare our students to be successful in their graduate medical education following the completion of medical school. We’ve seen this hard work paying off in the feedback we get from residency program directors about the quality of our graduates, including the high percentage of our graduates who are awarded chief resident status.

“With this seal of approval from the ACGME, we have a clear statement that we also will be there to help provide excellent training opportunities beyond medical school.”