The Centers for Osteopathic
Research and Education (CORE)
received two commendations during the American Osteopathic
Association (AOA) on-site inspection Feb. 16 and Feb. 17. The
AOA inspection — which takes place periodically — was required
to reaccredit the CORE as an AOA-approved Osteopathic
Postdoctoral Training Institution (OPTI). An OPTI is a
community-based training consortium made up of at least one
college of osteopathic medicine and one hospital. Other
hospitals and health-care facilities may also partner within the
consortium. There are currently 13 teaching hospitals that are
members of CORE.
AOA inspectors
commended the CORE system for its three-year Osteopathic
Manipulative Medicine curriculum and for the research
initiatives it has undertaken in the past three years.
“These two commendations are
important,” says Keith Watson, D.O., OPTI chief academic
officer for the CORE. “And these two commendations were really
nice to hear from the inspection team. It was a spotless
inspection.”
Dean Jack Brose, D.O.,
agreed with Watson adding, “I am extremely pleased with results
of the OPTI accreditation visit and was very proud of the CORE
team who prepared for this inspection. The commendations were
especially gratifying since they were in areas that were not
considered to be strengths of the CORE in the past.”
“The CORE system
held up extremely well to the scrutiny of the inspection team
relative to the standards,” says Cheryl Riley, assistant
dean for academic affairs and CORE operations. “We met all but
one minor standard — regarding conflict of interests — that can
be easily corrected virtually with the stroke of a pen.”
Although CORE has
a conflict of interest statement in its bylaws, which is part of
the annual agreement with its hospital and college partners, it
was recommended that there be a separate conflict of interest
statement signed by each voting member. This is to be instituted
during the 2006-07 contract cycle.
Following the two day on-site
survey, the inspection team had an exit conference with the CORE
Academic Steering Committee (CASC) to let members in attendance
know their findings and recommendations. The inspection team met
with the CASC membership in Columbus and Brose in attendance via
video conference.
The report was then forwarded
to Watson for comment before the inspection team submits its
final report to the AOA for review. Riley says that the entire
accreditation process takes approximately six months and expects
to receive official notification regarding OPTI continuing
accreditation status, hopefully for the maximum five-year
period, no later than September 2006.
Riley says the
CORE system will use what it has learned from the self study and
the on-site survey to continue making improvements.
“We approached
the inspection process as a way to identify for ourselves and
learn from the inspectors what areas need attention,” Riley
says, adding she and other personnel will review AOA-recommended
standards and ensure the CORE system addresses them in an
ongoing manner, so when the next inspection comes, CORE will be
just as ready.
The CORE system has undergone
three inspections since the medical education consortium’s
inception in 1997. The first took place in 1998, after the AOA
Board of Trustees passed regulations and developed standards to
accredit OPTIs in 1995. CORE was inspected again in May 2002,
receiving continuing accreditation in 2003.
“The CORE was the first
accredited OPTI and is considered by many in our profession to
be the gold standard by which other OPTIs are judged,” Brose
says. “That reputation has been reinforced by this accreditation
visit.”
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