Accreditation Standards for colon and rectal surgery residency

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) oversees the function and accreditation of residency training programs in the United States and, increasingly, in the other parts of the world. This article briefly reviews the evolution of residency training and accreditation, and the structure and function of the ACGME. The ACGME is currently instituting a major redesign of the accreditation process, the Next Accreditation System (NAS), with the goals of increasing focus on measurable outcomes, improving the learning environment, decreasing administrative burdens, and encouraging educational innovation. The NAS and its components will be discussed.