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
Appropriateness 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, IMEAc revised the TMC.WFME.BME Standards (2017) according to the guideline: “Review of standards”. The revised standards are released by Thai Medical council in January 2021, ie. TMC.WFME.BME Standards (2021). The revised standards can be downloaded from the website.
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
