While reading through these requirements for accreditation, I was able to picture how Ohio State complies to all of them. Since it only happens once every 7 years, as stated in one of the articles, it was interesting to see the whole process. We could tell our instructors were stressed but trying not to show it.
The thing that surprised me the most was Section 4-4 in the ADA Accreditation Standards article-Extended campus facilities. I know OSU does a great job with collaborating with other facilities to give us the best opportunity possible. I did not realize there were set standards that had to be met with all of these. I thought we made our own little contract and it was not that big of a deal. To go as far as requiring 2 year notice for termination of a contract is really in depth.
Other things are such minor details as well, like requiring office space. I thought that would be in an instructor’s contract or set by the program director. When we were going through the accreditation process, we had an idea of what they were looking for, but WAY more intense. No wonder it was stressful! I guess not too many of these really ‘surprise’ me, because I think, “Oh, ok. That’s why we have that” or “We meet this standard by…”. For example, 3-6 states that the student to instructor ratio cannot exceed 5 to 1. We never have more than a 5 to 1 ratio or we bring in another instructor. If we exceed this and have 2 instructors with 3 students that have patients, one instructor can go beack to the office.
To sum it up, the most surprising thing about the accreditation standards to me is the amount of detail. They extend from admission, to clinical and didactic instruction, to post-graduate life. These standards truly are thorough.
I also agree that it is surprising how much detail goes into the accreditation. I compare this to the ADHA meeting I have attended. Sometimes they spend several minutes on a detail as small as were to put a comma or a period! After a while you learn to respect those who do it, and all of the hard work that goes into it.
Your comment about section 4-4 is very true. It’s important for us to get as much experience as possible and OSU does a really great job at this. I’m glad we got to go on so many rotations throughout our program here. : )
I’m glad some of the things you read are reinforced in your experiences. A lot of times people don’t realize why…they just know that is what we do.