Download the entire QEP report (pdf)

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center educates future physicians, researchers and variety of health professionals. To educate and train this diverse population, there are three schools within the medical center: The Southwestern Medical School (SMS), the Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (SGSBS) and the Southwestern School of Health Professions (SSHP).

UT Southwestern is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Part of SACS’ mission is “…the enhancement of educational quality in the region.” (www.sacs.org/)

In order to receive or renew accreditation, SACS now requires institutions to develop a Quality Enhancement Plan, or QEP.  The QEP should demonstrate an institution’s commitment to enhancing the quality and effectiveness of student learning relative to its institutional missions.

The UT Southwestern QEP - CONVERGENCE

The QEP for UT Southwestern is called CONVERGENCE. Our QEP begins with the convergence of two educational missions of the medical center — patient care and biomedical science. It continues with the convergence of students, trainees and researchers from the three schools into interprofessional learning communities. These communities will converge students and trainees from educational programs within each school, converge learning communities between schools, and converge all learning communities in a campus-wide interprofessional event called Learning Community Days (LCD’s)

CONVERGENCE makes use of existing learning communities within each of the three schools: Academic Colleges in the medical school; Science of Medicine Interest Groups (SMIGs), in the graduate school; and Interprofessional Development, Education & Active Learning teams (IDEAL), in the health professions school. Each learning community will participate in activities focused on a specific science of medicine topic, such as cancer, over the course of a year. Once a year, all of the learning communities will converge to participate in Learning Community Days, concentrating on the specific topic covered in the previous year.

CONVERGENCE will enhance students’ learning by improving their knowledge and understanding of common diseases and their ability to communicate this knowledge to peers, professionals, patients and the public. CONVERGENCE will bridge our educational silos through these interprofessional  learning communities, resulting in greater communication within our institution and with the public. CONVERGENCE is further enhanced by concentration on the science of medicine, thereby linking our strengths in patient care and research with our educational mission.


The Future of CONVERGENCE at UT Southwestern

Learning communities and interprofessional education will become a way of life at UT Southwestern and an integral part of our culture. Our faculty, staff, trainees, and students recognize CONVERGENCE as the critical pathway to enhance education and link the provision of health care and community outreach with all professions working together. CONVERGENCE began because of a SACS QEP requirement; however, we have found the process to be gratifying and look forward to improving our students’ education through these efforts.