ACGME Releases Version 2.0 of CLER Pathways to Excellence

CHICAGO, Dec. 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's (ACGME's) Clinical Learning Environment Review (CLER) Program is pleased to announce the publication of Version 2.0 of its CLER Pathways to Excellence: Expectations for an Optimal Clinical Learning Environment to Achieve Safe and High-Quality Patient Care. The CLER Pathways serve as a tool to promote discussions and actions to optimize the clinical learning environment.

This version introduces the new CLER Focus Area of Teaming, which recognizes the dynamic and fluid nature of how many individuals come together in the course of providing patient care to achieve a common vision and goals. Teaming recognizes the benefits of purposeful interactions in which team members coordinate care that is both safe and efficient. In high-performance teaming, team members collaborate and share accountability to achieve outstanding results and continuously learn in the process.

"This updated version of the CLER Pathways highlights the important role of the clinical learning environment in optimizing learning and patient care," said Thomas J. Nasca, MD, ACGME president and chief executive officer.

Version 2.0 differs from previous versions in that it frames each of the pathways and their associated properties from the perspective of the clinical learning environment. This change recognizes that health care organizations create and are therefore primarily responsible for the clinical learning environment.

"We are excited to announce the new CLER Focus Area of Teaming," said John Patrick T. Co, MD, MPH, co-chair of the CLER Evaluation Committee that authored the document. "The introduction of this new Focus Area reflects its importance for meeting the needs of our nation's clinical learning environments and offers an immense opportunity for addressing provider well-being, patient safety, and quality."

The CLER Pathways to Excellence is part of the ACGME's efforts to help shape a physician workforce capable of meeting the challenges of a rapidly evolving health care environment. The full document is available here.

The ACGME is a private, non-profit, professional organization responsible for the accreditation of approximately 11,700 residency and fellowship programs and the approximately 850 institutions that sponsor these programs in the United States. Residency and fellowship programs educate approximately 140,500 resident and fellow physicians in 181 specialties and subspecialties. The ACGME's mission is to improve health care and population health by assessing and advancing the quality of resident physicians' education through accreditation.

SOURCE Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education