NAACLS BOARD of DIRECTORS UPDATE – September 2019

At the September 27, 2019 meeting of the NAACLS Board of Directors, in addition to accreditation and approval awards recommended by the Review Committee on Accredited Programs (RCAP) and the Program Approval Review Committee) PARC, the following items were addressed:

• The long-delayed Accreditation Management System (AMS) project is paused awaiting Board review of the project and its direction. A task force was appointed to review continuation of the project as well as alternative technological improvements. The task force will make recommendations to the Board.
• Minor edits to the Interim Report Guidelines were approved for clarity. The edits pertained to the summary of changes that occur with the program since the most recent award. These edits are effective immediately.
• Revisions to the DMS preamble (competencies) were adopted. These revisions help differentiate the competencies in diagnostic molecular science expected for DMS professionals as opposed to those encountered by the medical laboratory scientist. Diagnostic molecular science has had influences on the core laboratory but those technologies do not encompass all the competencies expected of a DMS.
• Approved for release for public comment were edits to Standard II.B. (Assessment/Outcomes), Standard IV.A.1.d (Publications), and Standard V.D (Operational Policies) with corresponding edits to the Standards Compliance Guide and other documents (as appropriate). Calls for 30 day periods for public comments to these proposed changes will be released by NAACLS shortly.

Several policies related to the accreditation of emerging DCLS programs were addressed:

• Accepted was a change in the DCLS Committee composition to allow a DCLS student, with full voting privileges, to serve on the DCLS Committee if a DCLS practitioner is not successfully recruited.
• Approved was the following policy as it relates to doctoral self study reviews:

DCLS Self Studies will have one reviewer. Initially, (for the first three to five years), the self-studies will be reviewed by a DRC Member. If DRC members are unable to handle all the self-studies, qualified reviewers (those with graduate level and/or advanced practice experience) will be recruited to serve.

• Approved was the following policy as it relates to the composition of the initial program site visit team for doctoral level programs:

Initial site visit teams will consist of a minimum of two members, a Team Coordinator and a Team Member. Between the two, the following qualifications must be met.

• A member with least three NAACLS site visits
• Knowledge of the DCLS Standards
• Knowledge of and experience with clinical laboratory advance practice (to be approved by the DRC)
• Experience with graduate level and/or advanced practice education.

• Approved was language required for doctoral programs to publish upon reaching Candidacy Status:

The Doctoral program in Clinical Laboratory Science at [name of parent institution of higher education] is a Candidate for Accreditation by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences, 5600 N. River Rd, Suite 720 Rosemont IL 60018-5119; 773.714.8880;. Candidacy is a “preaccreditation” status with the NAACLS, awarded to developing or emerging programs for a maximum period of 4 years.

• Approved was the following policy for awarding the number of years for initial Doctoral programs:

The initial award for NAACLS Doctoral Programs will be a maximum of five years. There will be no Initial Progress Report required. Instead, Doctoral programs will be required to submit specific annual reporting.