The impacts of accreditation for medical schools: A scoping review

Abstract Objective: This scoping review aimed to identify, systematically evaluate, and summarize information regarding the impact of the accreditation process on medical schools around the world. Method: Up to October 2021, researchers conducted a systematic review in databases including PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Lilacs, Scopus and ERIC, Cochrane Library, Grey Literature and Open Grey to identify studies that aimed to assess the impact of the accreditation process as perceived by stakeholders from medical schools. Two independent reviewers performed the selection process and extracted data from the included studies to perform a qualitative analysis. Results: This review identified 4,280 references, and 14 studies from six countries were included for data extraction. As an impact of the accreditation process, the studies highlighted the implementation of the information management system, reorganization of the school curriculum, restructuring of internal processes and the preparation process for receiving a second visit from evaluators after receiving feedback in the first visit. Continuous Quality Improvement was mentioned in eight studies as a positive impact of accreditation. Two studies discussed negative aspects, such as the accreditation agency not being specific to medical courses, dissatisfaction with the accreditation process, high financial and human resources demands, stress and a perception of the process as a “burden” for the school. Conclusion: The accreditation process has positive aspects (stakeholder satisfaction, student performance, changes in cultural organization and continuous quality improvement) and negative aspects (costs, time and staff effort and stress). The establishment of a dialogic accreditation process that is meaningful to the school could minimize negative aspects. Thus, the role of accreditation in improving the quality of medical education and, consequently, of the health care provided, could be affirmed. It is recommended that experiences with accreditation should be shared and reported to increase improvement in the quality of medical education worldwide.