FSU medical school takes a key step

It gains preliminary accreditation, which paves the way for full accreditation.

By ANITA KUMAR, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 18, 2002

After a string of setbacks, the Florida State University medical school received preliminary accreditation Thursday, a crucial step toward winning full approval and meeting national standards.

The FSU College of Medicine is the first medical school in the United States in two decades to be granted provisional accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the national authority for accrediting M.D. programs.

"This is a crucial step," Dean Joseph Scherger said. "This is a hard-fought victory."

The committee, which is affiliated with the American Medical Association, twice refused to grant accreditation to the school that opened in May 2001. FSU even considered suing to gain accreditation earlier this year.

Accreditation signifies that an institution has met certain standards in academic programs, faculty credentials, campus facilities and other areas.

For students, accreditation is essential. Without it, graduates would have trouble getting the necessary graduate education and medical residency programs needed to become full-fledged doctors.

"This is vindication for all the hard work we've put in," said Kerry Bachista, 26, a second-year student from Jacksonville.

The FSU medical school was created by the Legislature in 2000 to focus on rural, geriatric and other medically under-served populations. It enrolled 30 students its first year and 40 more in May. The school is based at FSU's main campus in Tallahassee.

Initial accreditation is the first step toward full accreditation, which requires completion of a multiple-year process that includes several on-site reviews by committee members.

It makes the school eligible for federal grants and students eligible for federal loans and armed forces scholarships. It also entitles the medical school to membership in the Association of American Medical Colleges.

"I really wasn't worried," said Garrett Chumney, 29, a second-year student from Apalachicola. "I knew the details of what it took to become accredited. Everything was pointing in the right direction."

The committee denied accreditation in February, saying FSU depends too much on part-time faculty, lacks enough full-time professors in major disciplines and the curriculum committee wasn't adequately overseeing the development of the curriculum.

"We are much farther along," Scherger said. "We have been paving new ground here."

Scherger got a call from an official Thursday morning from Washington, D.C., where the group was meeting. Administrators and students expected good news after receiving the draft of a complimentary report in August.

The University of South Florida in Tampa and the University of Florida in Gainesville are the only other state medical schools in Florida. Unlike them, however, FSU has no main teaching hospital and will instead depend on hospitals and physicians throughout the state to train its third- and fourth-year medical students.

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