ASAHP conducted a webinar on April 17, 2020 that attracted 245 participants from 96 institutions. Discussions occurred on several topics that included the following:
How are academic programs and clinical partnerships meeting mutual needs?
What disciplines are allowed to remain on service and which are prohibited?
What criteria will determine when settings will again take students?
The Winter 2019 issue of the Journal of Allied Health featured the article entitled, “Clinical Education in Transition: Recommendations and Strategies,” which offered five recommendations that stem from a review of literature pertaining to current changes in the healthcare sector and higher education that challenge the availability of allied health clinical education. The paper can be obtained here.
Statement Of Principles On Acceptance Of Academic Credit
The American Council on Education and other major educational organizations joined together to write about one particular issue that they all will face: how to manage and evaluate academic credit and assess student transcripts that have been affected by the current crisis and, indeed, by their substantial efforts to provide flexibility to students and faculty. Institutions already are deciding how best to manage credit within their own educational contexts and that is wholly appropriate. One size does not fit all, however, and that is not and should not be an aspiration. Similarly, there is no single approach or one system that should apply to how institutions evaluate and accept credits when students seek to transfer between institutions, seek approval for nontraditional coursework, or apply to graduate and professional programs. Nevertheless, there is a set of common principles that institutions should keep in mind when developing policies regarding credit acceptance. They are:
(1) Institutional policies and the evaluation of grades and credit should recognize the extraordinary burden placed on students during this time. (2) Institutional policies and practices should recognize that traditional inequities are exacerbated in the current crisis and that “equal” treatment of students’ transcripts is unlikely to result in “equitable” outcomes. (3) Institutional policies and practices should, therefore, be as holistic as possible, taking into account the range of situational and behavioral circumstances in which students find themselves. (4) Institutional policies should, wherever practicable, provide flexibility in the timely reporting of grades and other markers of achievement, understanding that the aforementioned dislocations also are present for faculty, staff, and others. (5) Institutional policies should aim for complete transparency. (6) This transparency should extend inside as well as outside the institution. (7) Institutional decision-making regarding individual students should be swift and definitive. Finally, (8) Institutions should clarify their policies as soon as possible.
Should Regional Accreditation Go National?
The publication Inside Accreditation by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) features an article by Judith Eaton, that organization’s President, on the issue of whether regional accreditation should go national. During negotiated rulemaking in 2019, the U.S. Department of Education indicated that regional accrediting organizations could now be free to accredit anywhere in the United States to achieve the goal of opening up the institutional accreditation system to competition. Reasons she identified for having these organizations remain regional include: composition, culture, additional workloads, and it could lead to institutions embarking on “accreditation shopping” or a “race to the bottom.” Reasons for going national include: becoming national is acknowledgment of reality since they all operate outside their regions; increased growth opportunities; further affirming the commitment to creativity and innovation in higher education; and competition may not be negative and could emerge as valuable to strengthening accreditation.
More April 2020 TRENDS Articles
CALLING ALL CARS AND HEALTH DETECTIVES
Indicates the important role that epidemiologists play in explaining what is transpiring at key stages of COVID-19. Read more
PRESIDENT’S CORNER
ASAHP President Phyllis King discusses how with the thrust into the digitization of healthcare, the question for higher education is how fast can we understand, adapt, anticipate and project patient care needs and healthcare innovations to prepare our students and meet the needs of this new world? Read more
FAST CHANGING LEGISLATIVE ENVIRONMENT
Depicts efforts by the federal government to provide additional funding through Paycheck Program Protection legislation, along with an increasing concern that the U.S. is too dependent on other nations for supplying minerals used in the production of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Read more
HEALTH REFORM DEVELOPMENTS
Points out how the existence of accountable care organizations (ACOs) is threatened by the current pandemic; describes COVID-19 surveillance activities in relation to the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution; and loosening by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of telehealth and scope of practice regulations. Read more
DEVELOPMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Describes a recent ASAHP webinar on clinical education; a statement of principles on academic credit; and whether regional higher education accreditation should go national. Read more
QUICK STAT (SHORT, TIMELY, AND TOPICAL)
Lifetime Prevalence Of Self-Reported Work-Related Health Problems Among U.S. Workers
National Health Expenditure Projections, 2019-2028
Skin-Interfaced Biosensors For Wireless Physiological Monitoring In Neonatal And Pediatric Intensive-Care Units
Bacterial Colonization Reprograms The Neonatal Gut Metabolome Read more
AVAILABLE RESOURCES ACCESSIBLE ELECTRONICALLY
Brain Health Across The Lifespan
Leading In A Time Of Crisis: Corporate America And COVID-19
Confronting Rural America’s Health Care Crisis Read more
RACIAL DISPARITIES IN AUTOMATED SPEECH RECOGNITION SYSTEMS
Mentions how these tools do not work equally well for all subgroups of the population, with study results showing that all five ASR systems in an investigation exhibited substantial racial disparities, with an average word error rate (WER) of 0.35 for black speakers compared with 0.19 for white speakers. Read More
ESTABLISHING HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS: HEALTH CARE LESSONS
Refers to a study that shows while both Functional Change and Cultural Change processes were individually important for enhancing team-based health care, they were most effective when mobilized in tandem. Read more