Accreditation Process | Application for Accreditation | Site Survey and Review
Accreditation Process
The ACS Division of Education is responsible for managing the accreditation program to ensure the delivery of the highest quality surgical education through the use of its Standards and Criteria. This program is a voluntary program and will involve a peer review process.
To help you understand the entire accreditation process, the flow chart below has been created to provide you with a visual reference of the different components that your institution and the College will be involved in.
Application for Accreditation
In order to become an ACS Accredited Education Institute, an institution must complete an application. The institution will describe how it meets the specific requirements for the Standards and Criteria of the ACS Program for the Accreditation of Education Institutes. Additionally, within the application, the institution will provide documentation and/or evidence to support its written description of compliance.
The accreditation program has two levels of accreditation and as a result there are two separate applications. Please review the requirements for each level in order to appropriately choose the correct application to review. Note: the folowing applications are samples and for review purposes only.
In order to receive an application, an institution will need to submit in writing a letter of commitment stating its intent to apply and request an application.
Pre-Application Questionnaire (165K PDF)
Submitting an Application (180K PDF)
Level I - Comprehensive Education Institute (CEI) (120K PDF)
Level II - Basic Education Institute (BEI) (310K PDF)
These files are in Adobe Acrobat format. To view Portable Document Files (PDF) download the free
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Site Survey and Review
There are a number of operational steps that the American College of Surgeons will need to complete in order to support the Education Institutes seeking accreditation. The steps are described below:
- The ACS Division of Education will schedule a survey; and depending on which level of accreditation the Education Institute is seeking; staff will determine the number of surveyors to send to the site to spend one day conducting the survey. The site visit will include the following activities:
- The surveyors role is to collect and validate data and are not authorized to make accreditation decisions;
- The surveyors will conduct interviews with the principals of the Education Institute, institution, and of the accreditation program;
- The surveyors will review the necessary files and documentation to ascertain the Education Institute's level of compliance for each Standard and Criterion;
- The surveyors will tour the institution's Skills/Education Institute;
- An exit interview will be conducted in which a summary is provided to the Education Institute. The survey team will not provide any type of assessment as to the eventual status of the Education Institute with respect to its accreditation status;
- In the event there are questions after the survey is completed, the Education Institute is to call the ACS directly. The Education Institute is not to contact the survey team, the reviewer, or the Committee.
- The survey team will submit its report to the College indicating its findings.
- After receiving the survey reports, the ACS Division of Education will prepare the report to be reviewed by a member of the ACS Accreditation Committee for Education Institutes. The Committee is the body that will complete the next level of review. The Committee also will meet twice per year to make accreditation decisions.
- Staff will send the Committee a list of all the Education Institutes to be reviewed. At which time, members will note any real or perceived conflicts they have with any Education Institute(s), and will recuse themselves from those particular review(s). Staff will make assignments for review based on this information.
- An individual member of the Committee is responsible for reviewing the Education Institute's application along with the surveyors' report. Upon review the committee member will submit a written report to ACS Division of Education staff with his/her recommendation.
- Staff will prepare and send to all committee members a recommendation book in which the reports of all the Education Institutes under consideration for a specific meeting will be reviewed.
- The committee members will present to the Committee their accreditation recommendation for each Institute they are assigned to review. The Committee will vote on each proposed recommendation. Once the recommendation is accepted, the Committee will vote to convert the recommendation into a final decision for each Education Institute reviewed. The initial term of approval will be for a three years.
- The ACS Division of Education will prepare a letter informing the Education Institute of the decision made to become an ACS Accredited Education Institute. The letter will include the term of accreditation, the accreditation report approved by the Committee, and a list of all the members of the Committee and staff involved in the decision process.
- If in the event an Education Institute is not accredited, the ACS Program for Accreditation of Education Institutes has a process for appeal in which an Institute can ask for a reconsideration of its decision.
- Further input may be solicited from the Executive Director of the College, Board of Regents, and/or General Counsel as necessary.
Revised June 1, 2010