Reforming Indigenous health in medical education: Medical school accreditation as a targeted policy initiative

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. AimThe accreditation of medical schools is a key leadership role for the Australian Medical Council (AMC) and its counterparts in other jurisdictions. The aim of our research was to identify how the inclusion of Indigenous health in the accreditation standards has influenced the reporting of activity related to Indigenous health in medical schools.MethodA bi-national review was conducted of the AMC reporting of Indigenous health education initiatives against the accreditation standards from January 2007 to December 2014. Also reviewed was the AMC monitoring of medical schools that occurs via schools' Comprehensive Reports and Progress Reports.ResultsThe study showed that the inclusion of Indigenous-specific standards leads to specific reporting on aspects related to Indigenous peoples in accreditation assessments and monitoring of medical school programs. Where areas in the accreditation standards did not include Indigenous-specific requirements, AMC reporting was unlikely to mention Indigenous matters. ConclusionsThe continuing commitment by the AMC - and comparable bodies in other jurisdictions - to assessing medical education programs against specific Indigenous health standards, represents significant leadership in educating a medical workforce committed to ongoing improvement of Indigenous peoples' health.