Mysterious banners, a button on the home page, students in black T-shirts…what could this “synergy” thing be? I’ll let you in early on a not-so-big secret: no man (or woman) is an island, even if they live and study on one—and no health care professional today or in the future works alone. We’ve known that at UTMB for a long time, and have done a good job working to make that a part of the environment in which we work and train students.
synergy is the next step. It’s the name of a quality enhancement project that’s a part of the upcoming review for reaccreditation of our schools. The group doing the review is the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), and work’s been taking place for about two years to get ready for next month’s visit. For folks on the clinical side of the house, think of this as Joint Commission for the academic enterprise. Very important stuff, and in our collective best interest to learn a little about it.
The Quality Enhancement Plan, or QEP, is an important part of the review, hence the imminent and extensive push to get word out about synergy. Read more about it.