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2007 Standard I.A. – Sponsorship
Q: What is sponsorship?
A: Sponsorship refers to the college, hospital, or program’s authority to provide higher education in your state. The United States Department of Education is a resource that provides information regarding authorization to offer post-secondary education.
Q: Does JRC-DMS accept the Joint Commission formerly known as the JCAHO as an authorized sponsor?
A: Hospital accreditation from the Joint Commission is different than programmatic educational accreditation. The Joint Commission states on its Web site that its “standards address the organization’s (hospital) level of performance in key functional areas, such as patient rights, patient treatment, and infection control.” However, JRC-DMS recognizes that some hospital-sponsored programs were developed using the Joint Commission as their sponsor. Therefore, until the next revision of the Standards, JRC-DMS will recognize the Joint Commission as a sponsor for hospital, certificate/diploma programs.
Q: The Radiography Program (and/or other medical education programs) at my institution has acceptable sponsorship and my program falls under their program, will that suffice for my program’s sponsorship?
A: It depends. If documents that authorize your institution to provide higher education specifically refer to your DMS program, it may be sufficient.
Q: Our hospital/institution has another CAAHEP-accredited program and they did not get cited for sponsorship. Why did I?
A: Each profession has its own set of standards and a review board or committee on accreditation. Another CAAHEP-accredited profession’s standard would not apply to sonography.
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Clinical Sites and Clinical Instructors
Q: Do I need to document the credentials for all of the clinical instructors at my clinical sites for the site visit team during my site visit?
A: Yes. A copy of each designated clinical instructor’s credentials must be available for the site visitors to review. Verification of credentials through the ARDMS, ARRT, and/or CCI Web sites is acceptable. If other sonographers work at the site(s) but are not listed as the designated clinical instructor, you do not need to provide documentation of credentials for these individuals.
Q: When you ask for clinical instructor information, do you mean the one designated by the program and the site, or all sonographers that will have contact with the students at the site?
A: An appropriately credentialed sonographer must be designated at each site. “Appropriate credentials” refers to the procedures and learning concentration the clinical instructor oversees. If a site is recognized for abdomen and obstetric and gynecologic rotations, designated instructor(s) must be credentialed in those specialties. You may choose to have one instructor for abdomen and one for OB-Gyn, or a single instructor who holds both credentials could be designated. For a current list of the JRC-DMS accepted credentials, see Policy 5.17.
Q: Can a clinical affiliate site accept students from more than one program?
A: Yes. There is no Standard prohibiting sharing a site. Whether your program shares sites or not, resources at all sites must support the number of students placed there.
Q: When can I submit paperwork for recognition of a new clinical site?
A: There are three times the paperwork for recognition of clinical sites may be submitted or deleted from your clinical site list; with your submission of a self-study, with your response to a findings letter/progress report, OR with your annual report. Requests to recognize an added or deleted site that are submitted at any other time will not be processed and will be returned to the program. See Policy 9.00.
Remember, you can use new or added clinical sites at anytime. It is your responsibility to ensure they meet the Standards for recognition.
Q: I submitted the $50.00 clinical affiliate recognition fee, and my clinical site wasn’t recognized. Do I have to pay the fee again if I resubmit for recognition of the site?
A: Yes. The fee is a processing fee.
Q: Can I use a clinical site prior to recognition by JRC-DMS?
A: Programs may use clinical sites prior to recognition by JRC-DMS if the site satisfies the criteria outlined in the Standards and Guidelines. If a site is used prior to JRC-DMS recognition, it must be submitted with the NEXT annual report, self-study, or your letter responding to the findings of a site visit, whichever is soonest. See Policy 9.00.
Q: What happens if the documentation for a clinical site I’ve been using and submitted is not recognized by JRC-DMS?
A: It is the program’s responsibility to determine if a site meets Standards when it begins to place students. If the clinical site does not meet Standards, and, thus, is not recognized by JRC-DMS, the student(s) must be removed and placed at an alternate clinical site that satisfies the CAAHEP Standards, immediately upon notification from JRC-DMS. See Policy 9.00.
Q. In the Standards, it states that if a program has 8 or more clinical affiliates/clinical education centers they must have a clinical coordinator. Does that mean 8 or more sites listed as affiliates, or more than 8 sites but not more than 8 students?
A: The number of sites/centers determines your need to have a clinical coordinator, not the number of students. A clinical affiliate/clinical education center refers to a physical location where a student, or students, are placed to meet the clinical requirements of the course of study. If the location of a center(s) is physically in a different location, for example on a separate floor of a clinic or hospital, it must be considered a separate location for the purposes of needing a clinical coordinator. However, it may not necessarily require a separate clinical affiliation agreement with your program.
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Program Structure
Q: Can a program that is one year in duration be CAAHEP-accredited?
A: Yes. While it is true the guidelines recommend 18 months for one learning concentration and six months for each additional learning concentration, it is not required in the Standards. Programs are reviewed and accreditation is awarded on the basis of substantial compliance and successful outcomes. This means that if a program demonstrates compliance with the Standards, and acceptable outcomes, and is less than 18 months in duration, it may become accredited.
Q: Why must I apply for cardiac AND vascular accreditation for my “cardiovascular” program?
A: Cardiovascular is not considered a learning concentration in the Standards. A program can be accredited in the cardiac concentration, vascular concentration, or both. Although there are some components of vascular in cardiac and cardiac in vascular, they are recognized as separate specialties (learning concentrations) by JRC-DMS.
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Master Plan
Q: Why do I need to show locations for all documents in the Master Plan?
A: The master plan and locations of key documents are listed for program leadership and instructors to have knowledge about records, curriculum design, program history, course syllabi, etc. as appropriate to their positions in the program. Besides providing continuity for your program should there be staff turnover, showing all locations for the components of the master plan assists site visitors at the time of your program’s site visit. The list of items that must be available can be found in the Standards.
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Applying for Accreditation
Q: When can a program apply for initial accreditation?
A: After your own internal review of the Standards and determining that you are in substantial compliance, you may apply for initial accreditation at any time. Students must be participating in clinical rotations prior to a site visit occurring, so you will want to time submission of the application and self-study appropriately.
Q: How long is initial accreditation?
A: Initial accreditation is awarded for five years, during which time you will have the opportunity to demonstrate outcomes (measures of success) that meet the thresholds established by JRC-DMS. However, initial accreditation will expire unless your program pursues continuing accreditation. JRC-DMS will notify you when your next review is due.
Q: Why am I being reviewed again (submitting another self-study) if I just received initial accreditation?
A: Programs are awarded initial accreditation for a five year period, at the end of which the accreditation will expire unless the program is reviewed and awarded continuing accreditation. CAAHEP requires that to receive a continuing accreditation status, programs must undergo a full comprehensive review, including a self-study, site visit, review by the JRC-DMS Board, and a recommendation to the CAAHEP Board. The comprehensive review and site visit can take up to 2 years and must be complete before the initial-accreditation expiration date. Thus, even though your initial accreditation award is for five years, the process to convert to continuing status must begin soon enough to allow time to complete the entire comprehensive process so that your initial status does not expire.
Q: If I have initial accreditation, how do I apply for continuing accreditation?
A: JRC-DMS notifies initial programs that their accreditation will expire and what steps they must take to be considered for continuing accreditation. To ensure adequate time to process all program reviews, JRC-DMS requests self-studies from programs approximately 36 months prior to their expiration date.
Example:
January 1, 2009 – program receives initial accreditation
January 31, 2014 – initial accreditation will expire
Approximately January 31, 2011 – new self-study is requested to allow ample time to receive continuing accreditation and avoid expiration of your accreditation.
If your program already has a continuing accreditation status, you will be notified when your next comprehensive review is due. Continuing accreditation does not expire.
Q: Is it possible to obtain accreditation before any students graduate from a program?
A: Yes, it is possible to obtain accreditation prior to graduating a class, but there are no guarantees and a program is prohibited from promoting or advertising possible, pending, or anticipated accreditation to students or the public.
Q: My program is not accredited yet. At what point will my students be eligible to sit for their certification examinations?
A: Eligibility questions must be directed to the certification bodies:
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Outcomes
Q: What are outcomes?
A: Outcomes are measures of success in meeting program goals. The Standards require that you track your success through results from student, graduate, and employer surveys, credentialing success rates, and attrition and employment data. See Standard II.A. (2007).
Q: How can I become accredited if I have no outcomes data?
A: If a new program is in substantial compliance with the Standards, but does not have outcomes data, they will be asked to send outcomes data to JRC-DMS when they become available, in either a progress report or an annual report.
Q: What do I do if I have no outcomes data to report in the self-study?
A: Programs without outcomes data should not leave these items blank in the self-study. Instead, programs should provide the tools they will use to gather the outcomes, and provide a plan for how the outcomes will be collected and what the program will do with the information.
Q: How will I notify JRC-DMS when I do have outcomes data?
A: Programs without outcomes data are required to submit these results after accreditation is achieved, in the form of either a progress report or annual report.
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Clinical Hours
Q: Is there a set number of clinical hours required by JRC-DMS?
A: No, the Standards and JRC-DMS do not set a specific number of hours for clinical or didactic education. Instead, your outcomes must support that your program design, including number of clinical hours supports success by meeting the program’s goals and achieving the thresholds set by JRC-DMS.
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Curriculum Requisites
Q: The Curriculum Requisites (2007, Section III.C.1.) states, “The following curriculum requisites must be met prior to the beginning of the core curriculum of the diagnostic medical sonography education program…” What does this mean?
A: The student must complete the listed courses before starting the core-sonography courses of the program.
Q: Do curriculum requisites have to be college level courses?
A: Yes.
Q: What does college level mean?
A. It means that college credit is earned.
Q: What types of courses qualify as “college level”?
A: Some examples Include: traditional college courses taken while enrolled as a student in a college, courses taken for college credit while still in high school, courses taken at a local community college that awards college credits; advanced placement high school courses that were awarded college credit; and any post-secondary courses at an institution accredited to teach and award college credits.
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Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Q: The self-study requires that I submit information regarding compliance with ADA Technical Standards. What is this?
A: JRC-DMS requires that programs have a policy regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). http://www.ada.gov/. For ideas and suggestions to meet this Standard, you may want to contact other accredited sonography programs or educator’s groups, such as those through the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS) http://www.sdms.org/, American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) http://www.asecho.org/ , or the Society for Vascular Ultrasound (SVU) http://www.svunet.org/.
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Program Director Credentials
Q: Does the program director have to be credentialed for all concentrations offered in a program?
A: No. However, if the key personnel do not have all of the appropriate credentials for the learning concentrations offered, then there must be another designated faculty member with the appropriate credentials who meets the qualifications of a program director and will assume the oversight of the didactic instruction and clinical evaluation responsibilities specific to that concentration.
All faculty, including the program director(s) must be familiar with program goals, be able to demonstrate the ability to develop an organized plan of instruction and evaluation, and have appropriate credentials for the learning areas they teach. (2007, Standard III.B.4)
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Credit Hours
Q: How can I convert clock hours to credit hours?
A: Check with your college or sponsor to see if they have a required formula. Many colleges use the following:
Classroom/Didactic Hours
16 contact/clock hours = 1 credit hour
Clinical Rotation/Lab Hours
Variable and greatly affected by the college or program’s prerogative
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