Resource Center

As a component of its next accreditation system, the ACGME has established the CLER program to assess the graduate medical education (GME) learning environment of each sponsoring institution and its participating sites. CLER emphasizes the responsibility of the sponsoring institution for the quality and safety of the environment for learning and patient care, a key dimension of the 2011 ACGME Common Program Requirements. The intent of CLER is “to generate national data on program and institutional attributes that have a salutary effect on quality and safety in settings where residents learn and on the quality of care rendered after graduation.”1

CLER provides frequent on-site sampling of the learning environment that will:

• increase the educational emphasis on patient safety demanded by the public; and,
• provide opportunity for sponsoring institutions to demonstrate leadership in patient safety, quality improvement, and reduction in health care disparities

The CLER program’s ultimate goal is to move from a major targeted focus on duty hours to that of broader focus on the GME learning environment and how it can deliver both high-quality physicians and higher quality, safer, patient care. In its initial phase, CLER data will not be used in accreditation decisions by the Institutional Review Committee (IRC).