Accreditation in the allied health professions

Specialized accreditation in the allied health professions can and will fulfill its basic purpose if its efforts are guided by the principle that evaluation must place its emphasis on the outcome of the educational process, no matter how difficult it may be to assess. This requires the commitment and cooperation of both the accrediting body and the institution and program under review. Accreditation is a vitally important and valuable system in higher education in general, and the allied health professions are no exception. If the system is to be effective, however, every temptation must be resisted by all involved parties to debase it by using it for self-serving purposes. A recognized accrediting agency not only has the right, but indeed the responsibility, to ensure that the graduates of a program under review possess the prerequisite knowledge and skills essential for entrance into a given allied health profession. In cases where that minimal standard is not attained, the program should be required to remove those deficiencies in a timely manner or, if sufficiently serious, have its accreditation withheld or withdrawn. There should be no exceptions to this course of action. Every standard or essential adopted should be defensible on sound educational grounds, and every program should be evaluated according to whether it is in compliance. Accrediting bodies must direct their efforts toward evaluating educational quality. They must respect institutional rights and responsibilities and not even attempt to prescribe what will be taught or by whom, or who will administer a given program. The entire accreditation process must account for institutional diversity and should not discourage experimentation, innovation, or modernization. However, the standards and essentials that are ultimately adopted must be applied uniformly and fairly and not in an arbitrary or capricious manner. Hence, it is imperative that the standards and essentials be stated in such a way that they are clear and understandable. For those programs in which an enhancement or upgrading is deemed necessary for one or more aspects of the educational experience, it would be a genuine service to the institution and its consistuency if the accrediting agency could offer sound advice and suggestions for remedying those factors that may be causing or contributing to the observed deficiencies in the educational outcome. Any responsible institution would welcome such an approach, and the outcome should be an upgrading of the program under review with a concomitant enhancement of the profession involved.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)