Standard 5: Educational Resources and Infrastructure
A medical school has sufficient personnel, financial resources, physical facilities, equipment, and clinical, instructional, informational, technological, and other resources readily available and accessible across all locations to meet its needs and to achieve its goals.
5.1 Adequacy of Financial Resources
The present and anticipated financial resources of a medical school are derived from diverse sources and are adequate to sustain a sound program of medical education and to accomplish other programmatic and institutional goals.
5.2 Dean’s Authority/Resources
The dean of a medical school has sufficient resources and budgetary authority to fulfill the dean’s responsibility for the management and evaluation of the medical curriculum.
5.3 Pressures for Self-Financing
A medical school admits only as many qualified applicants as its total resources can accommodate and does not permit financial or other influences to compromise the school’s educational mission.
5.4 Sufficiency of Buildings and Equipment
A medical school has, or is assured the use of, buildings and equipment sufficient to achieve its educational, clinical, and research missions.
5.5 Resources for Clinical Instruction
A medical school has, or is assured the use of, appropriate resources for the clinical instruction of its medical students in ambulatory and inpatient settings that have adequate numbers and types of patients (e.g., acuity, case mix, age, gender).
5.6 Clinical Instructional Facilities/Information Resources
Each hospital or other clinical facility affiliated with a medical school that serves as a major location for required clinical learning experiences has sufficient information resources and instructional facilities for medical student education.
5.7 Security, Student Safety, and Disaster Preparedness
A medical school ensures that adequate security systems are in place at all locations and publishes policies and procedures to ensure student safety and to address emergency and disaster preparedness.
5.8 Library Resources/Staff
A medical school provides ready access to well-maintained library resources sufficient in breadth of holdings and technology to support its educational and other missions. Library services are supervised by a professional staff that is familiar with regional and national information resources and data systems and is responsive to the needs of the medical students, faculty members, and others associated with the institution.
5.9 Information Technology Resources/Staff
A medical school provides access to well-maintained information technology resources sufficient in scope to support its educational and other missions. The information technology staff serving a medical education program has sufficient expertise to fulfill its responsibilities and is responsive to the needs of the medical students, faculty members, and others associated with the institution.
5.10 Resources Used by Transfer/Visiting Students
The resources used by a medical school to accommodate any visiting and transfer medical students in its medical education program do not significantly diminish the resources available to already enrolled medical students.
5.11 Study/Lounge/Storage Space/Call Rooms
A medical school ensures that its medical students have, at each campus and affiliated clinical site, adequate study space, lounge areas, personal lockers or other secure storage facilities, and secure call rooms if students are required to participate in late night or overnight clinical learning experiences.
5.12 Required Notifications to the LCME
A medical school notifies the LCME of any substantial change in the number of enrolled medical students; of any decrease in the resources available to the institution for its medical education program, including faculty, physical facilities, or finances; of its plans for any major modification of its medical curriculum; and/or of anticipated changes in the affiliation status of the program’s clinical facilities. The program also provides prior notification to the LCME if one or more class size increases will result in a cumulative increase in the size of the entering class at the main campus and/or in one or more existing regional campuses of 10% or 15 students, whichever is smaller, starting at the entering class size/campus yearly enrollment in place at the time of the medical school’s last full survey; and/or the school accepts a total of at least 10 transfer students into any year(s) of the curriculum.
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