Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine: NAME Accreditation Maintenance

The Medical Examiner’s Office at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) serves thirteen counties in Michigan as the Medical Examiner and provides several other counties with postmortem examination services. The medical examiner’s office at WMed has been accredited through NAME since 2016. NAME accreditation status assists in hiring processes, especially that of highly qualified forensic pathologists, and provides assurance to communities served regarding the office’s commitment to supporting public health initiatives and upholding the public’s trust. Much like others across the country, the medical examiner’s office at WMed has been challenged with substantial increases in reported deaths and subsequent increases in postmortem examinations. In 2022, over 1600 postmortem examinations were performed. This, in association with staffing shortages, makes maintaining NAME accreditation a difficult task for any office. This project proposes a continuation of a part-time Project Coordinator, currently titled Accreditation Specialist, dedicated to ensuring that the medical examine’rs office is meeting and/or surpassing standards set forth by NAME. The Accreditation Specialist will continue to work alongside the Senior Manager for Research and Autopsy Operations to perform quarterly inspections that inform the expansive team of forensic pathologists, fellow(s), autopsy staff, laboratory directors and technicians, medicolegal death investigators, and administrative staff. The Accreditation Specialist will coordinate and assist in the review and revision of all policies and procedures required by NAME and will play a vital role in data gathering for annual statistical compilation, analysis and dissemination via the web-based case management system used to track and file all reported deaths. Also, the Accreditation Specialist will continue to be responsible for the annual input of all required documentation to the web-based Inspection and Accreditation program employed to assess continued NAME compliance. This devoted individual to NAME compliance will play a vital role in continued accreditation of the medical examiner’s office at WMed.