UNMC’s Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery residency program has achieved a five-year accreditation – the longest possible — by the residency review committee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
The ACGME is responsible for the accreditation of post-M.D. medical training programs within the United States. Accreditation is accomplished through a peer review process and is based upon established standards and guidelines.
“Five years is the longest accreditation you can get, so we were really happy to get that,” said Barbara Heywood, M.D., otolaryngology residency director and associate professor in UNMC’s Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery.
Without accreditation, residency programs simply cannot exist. “The ACGME decides which teaching programs will have a program and how often they have to have it reviewed,” Dr. Heywood said.
The residency review committee, whose reviewer was on campus in February, announced its decision this month.
There are 10 residents in the UNMC ENT residency program, two per year for five years. The department’s teaching staff is comprised of nine physicians and two oral facial prosthedontists.
UNMC’s ENT residency program was originally accredited in 1966, said Pat Surdyk, executive director of the Institutional Review Committee of the ACGME. According to the ACGME’s detailed historical files, which date back to 1989, the program received a five-year review during the May 1989 meeting. “That was the last time it receive five years until this recent meeting,” Surdyk said. “Five years represents the longest cycle that an individual program can receive.”