Volume 76 - Fall 2000	Download

Chief Executive Officer’s Corner Streamlining the Accreditation Process by Olive M.Kimball, EdD Chief Executive Officer

It was in 1993 that I came to NAACLS as Executive Director, after 20 years spent in higher education administration. During the 20 years I had served as a site visitor for other agencies, hosted accrediting bodies when they came on site visits, and been a CLS program director. Consequently, I knew the basics but had never seen a review committee in action.

Within two weeks of starting at NAACLS that opportunity opened up to me. I experienced a summer face to face meeting of the CLSPRC. Many of the details are lost but I was greatly impressed with the thoroughness and care exhibited by the volunteers on that committee. As I remember it, there were at least 17 committee members and a few Board members around a huge table in a large ballroom. There were microphones all around the table and several staff members worked at auxiliary tables to the side. In front of just about every person in the room there was at least one, and often two, three to four inch binder notebooks. In some cases there were equivalent stacks of paper spread around. There was much shuffling of paper throughout the room.

These notebooks and papers were necessary, for they contained the background information from Self-Study Reports, Paper Reviews, Site Visit Reports, program responses, and additional information thought to be necessary for committee decisions. On that agenda there were 111 separate items for the committee to vote on and the committee deliberated for three, eight-hour days to complete the work.

Over the next months it became clear that, with the growth of NAACLS, this process of paper preparation and paper shuffling had become more and more onerous. It was having more negative effects on volunteers and staff as well. There were unfilled positions on committees, and volunteers seemed more reluctant to commit to committee responsibilities. It took much staff time to prepare and organize documents that were costly to package and to ship.

The NAACLS Board, committees and staff began a concerted effort to examine all the NAACLS processes and, in step by step fashion, to simplify and/or improve them where possible. The Board agreed to a proposal to upgrade the entire information system, and the database and network were totally restructured. Over time we developed simpler, more comprehensive forms for both programs and volunteers to use. We modified the committee process, reduced paper consumption, and began to distribute more and more information on disc or by email. The turn-around time for transmission of most information was greatly reduced. Our goal, if not to be a paperless agency, was to maximize the use of electronic information exchange, improve both accuracy and efficiency of the system and to make the work of NAACLS more comprehensible to everyone.

Redesigning the database structure and user interface greatly improved the storage of information. We now extract selected information about programs and export it to the web site daily. We scan relevant documents for each program that is up for review, put them on a CD and mail to the reviewers before each meeting. It reduces the paper that we generate and distribute, and it allows documents to be accessed more quickly at meetings anytime.

We are now able to track citations of each Essential for each of our accreditation cycles and for each kind of program we accredit. The data is continuously updated and permits continuous analysis. Essentials that are repeatedly cited are then reviewed for consistent application.

We are planning to move toward electronically storing program documents and to integrate the photocopier into the network. This will allow us to have a high-speed scanner for digitally storing many of the documents that are now taking up physical storage space.

In July the CLSPRC met for the year 2000 face to face meeting. It was a contrast to the one I described earlier. At this meeting, committee members were still seated around a table but a considerably smaller one. There was little need for extensive space because the large notebooks were gone and relatively few hard copy documents were in sight. There was no need for microphones in the smaller room. Many committee members had laptops before them and searched for documents without shuffling papers. With a touch of a mouse, staff used a laptop and LCD projector to bring up on a large screen any document needed for discussion. The committee forwarded approximately 80 recommendations to the Board of Directors after the meeting. Scheduled meeting time was no more than 12 hours.

There have been many positive changes over the years, but we still have much to do to make the work of NAACLS more comprehensible and efficient. Board and committee members, as well as staff, welcome comments, suggestions, plus support for these goals.

Top of the News
			A Glimpse at the NAACLS Futures Conference
			A New Look for NAACLS.org by Mark D. Erickson Computer Information Systems and Program Coordinator
			Completing the Site Visit Report by Norton I. German, MD CLSPRC Member
			Essential Functions by Louis Caruana, PhD, MT(ASCP) CLSPRC Member
			Increase in Annual Fees Planned by Dorryl L. Buck, MD Treasurer, Board of Directors
			NAACLS Board Invites Comment on Draft Essentials for Molecular Programs by Megan Hennessy Eggert Meetings & Publicity Coordinator
			NAACLS Hosts a Successful Futures Conference by Joeline D. Davidson, MBA, CLS(NCA), MT(ASCP) President, Board of Directors
			NAACLS Seeks Board and Committee Members by Megan Hennessy Eggert Meetings and Publicity Coordinator
			Preparing for a site visit? What are the most frequently cited Essentials? by Claudia Miller, PhD, MT(ASCP), CLS(NCA) CLS/MT Educator, Former NAACLS CLSPRC
			Videotaping in Lieu of Site Visits by Mark D. Kellogg, PhD, MT(ASCP) CLSPRC Member
Features
			An update on NAACLS workshops by Megan Hennessy Eggert Meetings & Publicity Coordinator
			Chief Executive Officer’s Corner Streamlining the Accreditation Process by Olive M.Kimball, EdD Chief Executive Officer
			Initially Accredited and Initially Approved NAACLS Programs September 2000
			Introducing new NAACLS members by Megan Hennessy Eggert Meetings & Publicity Coordinator
			President's Report by Joeline D. Davidson, MBA, CLS(NCA), MT(ASCP) President, Board of Directors

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