CAAHEP regrets to report that Jana Paulauskis, the wife of CAAHEP past president Greg Paulauskis, PhD, RRT, RCP, FAARC, died April 4, 2012. Mrs. Paulauskis, of Great Falls, MT, was a speech, language and hearing pathologists. Dr. Paulauskis is director of health sciences at Montana State University College of Technology.

The 2012 CAAHEP Annual Meeting, will be held April 29-30, 2012, at the Hyatt Regency LaJolla, in San Diego, California, where the theme is "Flying Through Challenging Skies." It's not too late to register. Please visit the CAAHEP website for meeting schedule and registration information.       

April 15-21 is Neurodiagnostic Week! The week-long event is an opportunity to recognize the professionals in the field, promote  neurodiagnostic awareness, and to educate others, about and recruit new students into the profession. The Neurodiagnostic Week is sponsored by the ASET - The Neurodiagnostic Society, a sponsoring organization of CAAHEP. For more information, please visit ASET website.

Hugh Bonner, PhD, FASAHP

Those of us in the accreditation world are well aware of the value of accreditation. Accreditation ensures students and their families that graduation from an accredited educational program provides a curriculum derived from standard principles needed to be successful in the profession. Accreditation protects patients because a graduate from an accredited program has been prepared with the knowledge and skills necessary to safely and effectively address the patient needs. The academic institutions and the specialized professions are protected because the accreditation process provides a stream of graduates who have followed a relatively standard curriculum which is continuously adapted to prepare a well educated and competent clinician that maintains the reputation of the educational institution and profession.  What is shocking is that so few of our constituencies are aware of the value of accreditation. Most students and their families have little understanding about the significance of the accreditation process. Patients, by and large, do not recognize the differences among the various health professionals, let alone know who has attended an accredited program. Most surprising of all, is the lack of knowledge of many academic administrators and faculty who often feel that accreditation is a time-consuming and expensive process that periodically requires their attention as they prepare for the self-study and the dreaded site visit. CAAHEP's immediate "Mission Impossible" is to make our constituents realize the value of the accreditation process. We need to do it before the state and federal legislators get involved under the misguided belief that they are saving money by restructuring a system they do not understand.

The Accreditation and Approval Review Committee on Education in Human Lactation and Breastfeeding (AARC) has changed its name and is now known as the Lactation Education Accreditation and Approval Review Committee (LEAARC).  In addition to a new name, LEAARC has a new website. For additional information, please visit www.leaarc.org/.

At its March meeting, the CAAHEP Board approved the proposed Standards and Guidelines for the Accreditation of Education Programs in Perfusion. These new Standards go into effect in April 2013 and will be posted to the CAAHEP website prior to the effective date. 

The Accreditation Review Council on Education in Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting (ARC/STSA) is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a newly-designed website. See all the details at www.arcstsa.org. 

"Accreditation Process Made Easy" is an article that was recently published in the Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS) promoting the ease of CAAHEP accreditation EMS programs gear up for the change in the prerequisite for eligibility of the National Registry of EMTs  to sit for their certification exam. Beginning in 2013, graduation from a CAAHEP-accredited program will be required in order to sit for the certification exam. In the article, procedures from the Committee on Accreditation of Educational Programs for the Emergency Medical Services Professions (CoAEMSP) are reviewed along with helpful tips and information as programs begin this new process.