The purpose of accreditation is to build a competent health workforce by ensuring the quality of training taking place within those institutions that have met certain criteria (WHO, 2013). It is the combination of institution or program accreditation with individual licensure—for confirming practitioner competence—that governments and professions use to reassure the public of the capability of its health workforce (IOM, 2003). Accreditation offers educational quality assurance to students, governments, ministries, and society. For the accredited body, this recognition serves the purpose of instilling public confidence in the program, institution, or organization.
Members of the Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education elected to take on the topic of accreditation and to explore the effect of societal shifts on new and evolving health professional learning opportunities to best ensure quality education is offered by institutions regardless of the program or delivery platform. Accreditation is a tool for monitoring and ensuring such quality.
The Forum-hosted workshop took place in Washington, DC, April 21–22, 2016. Titled ‘The Role of Accreditation in Enhancing Quality and Innovation in Health Professions Education’, this workshop aimed to explore global shifts in society, health, health care, and education, and their potential effects on general principles of program accreditation across the continuum of health professional education (foundational education, graduate education, and continuing professional development).