Volume 76 - Fall 2000	Download

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

Preparing for a site visit can be a very stressful procedure. Just when you think you have sent in the perfect Self-Study Report, you receive the Paper Review with questions andconcerns, and then the site visitors arrive and possibly find more things missing. This article will address the most frequently cited Essentials and the criteria used to evaluate them.

Essential 1 - The Affiliation Agreement (All Types of Programs)

The agreement must include the following:

1. General
   1. reason for the agreement
   2. responsibilities of the academic faculty
   3. responsibilities of the clinical faculty
   4. joint responsibilities
2. Specific
   1. supervisory responsibilities
   2. student professional liability coverage
   3. student health and safety policies
   4. provision for renewal
   5. documented annual review to assure provisions of the agreement are current
   6. termination clause providing for program completion of enrolled students

Criteria for Essential 1

There must be signed, current agreements between affiliated academic and clinical institutions addressing all 10 areas. In addition, there must be documented reviews signed by authorized persons.

Non-compliant programs most frequently are missing documented annual reviews and/or termination clauses providing for program completion of enrolled students. It is not sufficient to state that these components will be included in the next agreement. There must be documentation that there are signed annual reviews for each affiliate and that a termination clause is present.

If any of the above areas is not included in the original agreement, an addendum may be attached. However, annual review material must also be included.

Essential 12A - Curriculum (All Types of Programs)

The curriculum must follow a structured plan that includes clinical education. There must be clearly written program goals and course syllabi that have individual course objectives and competencies. The curriculum must include all major subject areas. Behavioral objectives must include cognitive, psychomotor, and affective taxonomies. Course objectives must show progression to the level consistent with entry into the profession as outlined in the PREAMBLE of the Essentials. Each type of program has different requirements for its specific curriculum.

Criteria for Essential 12A

Goals, competencies and syllabi must be present for each area of the education. The most frequently cited area under Essential 12A is the behavioral objectives. Some examples include the following:

• absence of objectives in specific areas, such as phlebotomy (CLS/MT and CLT/MLT, cognitive); computer technology (CLS/MT, cognitive); affective, and clinical areas (cognitive and affective)
• objectives not written at appropriate taxonomic levels
• cognitive objectives are subjective rather than objective (incorrect verb usage)
• use of checklists for psychomotor objectives; checklists are a form of evaluation; specific objectives in the psychomotor domain must be present
• absent criteria for each objective

Essential 12C - Student Evaluation (All Types of Programs)

The curriculum must include written criteria for passing, failing and progression in the program. They must be given to the students as they enter the program. The evaluation systems must be related to the objectives and competencies.

The evaluation instruments must be used for didactic and clinical components and employed frequently enough to provide indications of the students' progress and to serve as a reliable indicator of the effectiveness of instruction and course design.

Criteria for Essential 12C

Evaluations must be based on the behavioral objectives. Evaluations must be constructed for cognitive, psychomotor and affective categories. Evaluations must be distributed and the results conveyed to students in a timely manner so that progress can be monitored.

Programs may lack a clear evaluation policy. It is not sufficient to simply state that the student must maintain a certain average to remain in the program. Areas such as number of re-tests allowed and student progression through warnings, probation and dismissal must be addressed.

Evaluation instruments must show a student's progression to meet the competencies of the program. The behavioral objectives must serve as a reference for the construction of evaluation instruments; a variety of taxonomic levels must be included.

Essential 13A - Publications (All Types of Programs)

Students must be provided with a clear description of the program and its content; current publications must include;

• program goals and course objectives
• entry level competencies
• supervised clinical education assignments
• admission criteria, both academic and non-academic
• list of course descriptions
• names and academic rank or title of the program director, medical advisor/medical director, and faculty
• tuition and fees with refund policies
• causes for dismissal
• rules and regulations, including appeal procedure
• listing of clinical affiliates
• essential functions

Criteria for Essential 13A

Publications can include, but are not limited to, the program policy/handbook, university/college catalog, and program brochure. Care must be taken to include all the required areas and to ensure that students receive the publication(s).

It is understood that some areas, such as the appeals procedure, may be a general academic institution's policy and that some areas are program specific.

Essential functions must be included. Absence of these standards will influence compliance with Essentials 13 and 17.

Clinical affiliates must be listed; a short description of each site, although not required, proves helpful to the students.

Essentials 21, 22, and 23 -Program Evaluation (All Types of Programs)

Essential 21: A review of the performance of graduates on external certifying examinations from the three preceding years shall be documented and considered in the program evaluation.

Essential 22: A review of graduation or program completion rates and placement rates shall be documented and included in the program evaluation.

Essential 23: The results of program evaluations shall be documented and reflected in the curriculum and other elements of the program.

Criteria for Essentials 21, 22 and 23

After program evaluation is performed, there must be evidence of analysis of the results. An example of analysis would be review of certification examination scores. It is not sufficient to have data that is a compilation of scores; the scores must be examined and compared to national data. Necessary curricular changes must be initiated.

The use of benchmarks for all program evaluation is recommended. A comparison of results to these standards will allow the program to initiate analysis of program components. An evaluation plan must be in place and the results of program evaluation must be reflected in the curriculum and other elements of the program.

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