Quality Assurance in Postgraduate Medical Education: Implications for Dermatology Residency Training Programs

Background: In the past few years, quality assurance has become an increasingly important part of medical education for both Canadian and American training programs. Since this emphasis on quality assurance in residency programs is recent, most faculty members involved in teaching residents in dermatology training programs would not themselves have had experience with quality assurance. As a result, satisfying this requirement may be a challenge. Objectives: In this article, we review published reports in which various residency training programs have satisfied this requirement and propose projects in which dermatology residency training programs may satisfy quality assurance requirements. Methods: Using the key words residency, training, project, quality, assurance, improvement, medical errors, and safety, a literature search was conducted of English-language articles published after January 1990. Results/Conclusions: There are many innovative and effective ways program directors in dermatology training programs should be able to develop projects that improve patient care, enhance resident education, and fulfill accreditation requirements.