Evidence medical schools are meeting accreditation standards: Comparison of self-evaluation guidance from WFME-recognized agencies.

Purpose: Accreditation is a key regulatory strategy to ensure high-quality medical education occurs across the world's growing number of medical schools. There is general agreement on standards for medical schools, but no consensus on the evidence needed to show standards are being met. This study characterized the evidence solicited from schools by World Federation for Medical Education (WFME)-recognized agencies.

Materials and methods: We collected documents from WFME-recognized agencies as of July 2022. We aligned self-evaluation guidance with relevant WFME standards, then compared common features of evaluation guidance across agencies.

Results: We obtained 75 documents (2460 pages) from 21 of 28 WFME-recognized agencies, which collectively accredited 690 programs in 57 independent states covering a population of over 1.8 billion people. Self-evaluation guidance varied by the amount of information provided by an agency, structure for reporting, and data types requested from schools. Overall, requirements ranged from completing a database hundreds of pages long to drafting a maximum 50-page report outlining strengths and weaknesses.

Conclusions: Evidence requested from schools to demonstrate they met accreditation standards varied widely. This has implications for the reliability of accreditation judgments and resources required in school self-evaluations to ensure accreditation processes are aligned with the needs of learners, educators, and the public.