CALL FOR COMMUNITY OF INTEREST COMMENT
General Introduction
This second draft of the ACAOM First Professional Doctorate (FPD) Standards document represents the end product of work done by the 2011 ACAOM First Professional Doctorate Task Force between May 14th and August 16th, 2011 and ACAOM through October 2011. The members of the 2011 FPD Task Force were: Tim Chapman, PhD (Chair), Yemeng Chen, LAc FICAE; Beth Donohue, MS DC; Steve Given, DAOM LAc Dipl Ac; Stacy Gomes, EdD; Daniel Jiao, DAOM LAc Dipl Ac, CH & OM; Amy Matecki, MD MSTCM; Jeffery Millison, MAc LAc; Will Morris, PhD LAc MSEd MTOM; Dennis Moseman, DC MS LAc; Andrea Smith, EdD; Judie Wexler, PhD; and Carla Wilson, MA LAc, Dipl Ac & CH.
The first draft of the FPD standards was completed in July 2007, and as part of its work of updating this 2007 draft, the 2011 Task Force reviewed and took into account the wide range of public comments, feedback, and suggestions received by the Commission following the publication of the first draft.
Standards/Criteria and Guidelines
Standards/Criteria and definitions are presented in regular font and constitute the requirements that an accredited institution/program is held accountable. Standards/Criteria are phrased with “must”. Guidelines are presented in italics font, and are descriptions, examples, or clarifications related to Standards/Criteria. Guidelines are generally phrased with “should” and are not required
Programmatic vs Institutional Standards/Criteria
ACAOM is recognized by the United States Department of Education (USDE) as both an institutional accreditor and as a programmatic accreditor.
Standards/Criteria are now differentiated into two types:
1. Programmatic Criteria: These criteria are defined as those that are relevant to FPD programs, regardless of the institutional accreditation.
The FPD professional competencies enumerated in Criterion 7.2 comprise two distinct sets of competencies: a core set of foundational competencies, which are at the master's level and which are to be required of both master’s and doctoral graduates; plus a supplementary set of more advanced competencies, which are at the doctoral level and are thus to be required of doctoral graduates only.
A total of 54 professional competencies falling in the following domains were determined to be at the core master’s level:
• Patient care – foundational knowledge (1 competency)
• Patient care – critical thinking/professional judgment (4 competencies)
• Patient care – history taking and physical examination (3 competencies)
• Patient care – diagnosis (6 competencies)
• Patient care – case management (13 competencies)
• Patient care – AOM treatment (6 competencies)
• Patient care – emergency care (6 competencies)
• Systems-based medicine – education and communication (9 competencies)
• Professional development – ethics and practice management (6 competencies)
(Note: all Master’s level competencies are required for the corresponding FPD AOM program. As Master’s Standards/Criteria are revised, the Master’s competencies in these Standards will be removed and incorporated by reference.)
A total of 28 professional competencies falling in the following domains were determined to be at the advanced doctoral level:
• Patient care – advanced diagnostic studies (6 competencies)
• Systems-based medicine – patient care systems (5 competencies)
• Systems-based medicine – collaborative care (6 competencies)
• Professional development - formulating plans for individual professional development (5 competencies)
• Professional development – incorporating scholarship, research and evidenced based medicine into patient care (6 competencies)
2. Institutional Criteria:
In addition to ACAOM programmatic accreditation, some schools rely on ACAOM for institutional accreditation. These institutional criteria are relevant only to schools that are institutionally accredited by ACAOM. These institutional criteria are not relevant or pertinent to the schools that rely on ACAOM for programmatic accreditation only.
DEADLINE for Comment: extended to no later than May 4, 2012