During the last decade there has been a shift within accreditation circles toward evaluating educational outcomes as measures of institutional effectiveness in addition to educational inputs and process, which historically have been emphasized. The U.S. Department of Education has incorporated outcome assessment into the regulations required of any accrediting body it funds or recognizes. Although these regulations do not directly apply to accreditation of psychiatry residencies, their impact may be felt indirectly. The authors review some of the educational literature on outcome evaluation and suggest ways psychiatry residencies might be prepared to measure outcomes within their current procedures should the Residency Review Committee move in this direction.Abstract Teaser