The Board of Directors of the Accreditation Review Committee on Education in Surgical Technology (ARC-ST), upon the recommendation of the Subcommittee on Surgical Assisting Accreditation (SASA), is pleased to present the 2008 CAAHEP Standards & Guidelines for Education in Surgical Assisting as approved by the American College of Surgeons (ACS), the Association of Surgical Technologists (AST), the National Surgical Assistant Association (NSAA) and subsequently by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) at the open hearing in Denver on July 25, 2008. These revised SA Standards are part of a CAAHEP process which requires each of the Committees on Accreditation (e.g.; ARC-ST/SASA) to periodically review and update their standards to reflect both outcomes based accreditation and changes to the educational needs of the profession.
These SA Standards & Guidelines are the direct result of three years of review and analysis as part of the CAAHEP process for standards revision and are designed to address the needs of our sponsors, accredited programs, students, practitioners and educators in reflecting the professional development of the field of surgical assisting.
The SA Standards & Guidelines became effective August 1, 2008 and are posted at the link above for your easy access. Please note, only programs currently accredited or which have submitted a completed accreditation application package to the SASA/ARC-ST prior to August 1, 2008 may continue to operate under the 2002 Standards & Guidelines for a limited time. Those programs should begin to transition to the 2008 Standards and should refer to the 2008 Standards Implementation Timeline to determine which Standards may be met at a later date.
Please contact the ARC-ST home office at 303-694-9262 if you have any questions or need assistance.
