UCNS Announces Revision to the Common Program Requirements

12-6-2019 The United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties (UCNS) is pleased to announce approval of the revised 2019 UCNS Common Program Requirements. The UCNS Common Program Requirements are the core standards included in all UNCS subspecialty-specific program requirements. To achieve and maintain UCNS accreditation, training programs must demonstrate substantial compliance with the program requirements. UCNS policies require periodic review of the program requirements to ensure that they are up to date with current graduate medical education practices. Revisions to the program requirements require an extensive review by the UCNS Accreditation Council and Board, and a 30-day comment period of UCNS stakeholders.

Some updates to the UCNS Common Program Requirements include updated language for Canadian graduate medical education residency eligibility, clarification of core competencies and institutional documentation, language regarding enrollment of ineligible fellows, didactic experience clarification, updated language to match Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education verbiage, and updated outcomes-based measurement language.

The revised UCNS Common Program Requirements will be effective June 1, 2020. The Accreditation Council will work with each of the UCNS-recognized subspecialties to integrate the revised Common Program Requirements into their subspecialty-specific program requirements, as well as to review the subspecialty-specific content. This project will be completed in small workgroups for each subspecialty, comprised of UCNS staff and three subject matter experts appointed by the subspecialty, followed by a comment period before revisions are approved by the Board and Accreditation Council.

UCNS accreditation is a measure of training program excellence. Programs achieving accreditation have undergone a rigorous peer-review process, demonstrating substantial compliance with established programs requirements. For a complete list of all UCNS accredited training programs and more information about UCNS, visit www.ucns.org.