CMI - Procedure for visitation

Procedure for visitation of a medical immunology training programme by the Dutch Society for Immunology

1. Subject
These regulations document the procedure for the visitation of a training unit for medical immunologists by the Visitation and Accreditation Committee of the Dutch Society for Immunology.

2. Objective
The object of this document is to provide a clear description of the procedure for the visitation of a medical immunology training unit so that visitations can take place in a uniform and unambiguous way.

3. Procedure 
 1. For registration or re-registration as a training unit, the Training and Registration Committee (Commissie Opleiding en Registratie (COR)) asks the training unit in question to apply to the chair of the Visitation and Accreditation Committee (Commissie Visitatie en Accreditatie (CVA)) for visitation. The COR sends a copy of its request to the CVA.
 2. The CVA sends the training unit in question a digital questionnaire, along with the present regulations and a list of the documents to be submitted (see Appendix 1).
 3. The CVA appoints a visitation team. At least one of the members of the visitation team must be a program director (opleider). If necessary an external program director will be added to the team. The team must also include a trainee medical immunologist.
 4. The training unit in question fills in the questionnaire and sends it back by mail or email, along with the documents referred to in Appendix 1, to the visitation team appointed by the CVA.
 5. The team leader of the visitation team consults with the training unit to determine the date on which the visitation will take place; this is usually 6 to 8 weeks after the documents referred to under 4. have been submitted.
 6. Well before the visitation date the training unit is sent a programme for the day in question.
 7. During the visitation the team will assess to what extent the training programme meets the ‘Requirements for a Medical Immunology Training Programme' formulated by the COR (see Appendix 2). The team also assesses how the training programme has been implemented in practice and talks with
- department staff (medical immunologists)
- those in charge of internships at other departments
- program directors and subdirectors
- management or board of directors
- representatives of medical staff members (usually partnerships in relevant specialties such as
General Internal Medicine, Paediatrics, Pulmonary Diseases, Dermatology)
- trainee medical immunologists.

Special attention will be paid to
- the availability of library/journals
- the availability of adequate work space, PC etc.
- participation of the trainee medical immunologists in case discussions
- the trainee medical immunologists' contacts with applicants
- if there are several locations, the cohesion and communication between the locations
- the involvement of the trainee medical immunologists in quality assurance
- the involvement of the trainee medical immunologists in management.
 8. Eight weeks at the most after the visitation the training unit receives a draft report from the team leader. Within a period of 3 weeks the training unit may notify the team in writing of any factual errors.
 9. After any comments have been received, the final report is drawn up and sent to the trainer within 4 weeks. The training unit which has been inspected is responsible for choosing whether or not to make the report available to third parties. The report is also sent to the members of the CVA and the members of the COR.
 10. On the basis of the information in the report, the COR decides whether or not to accredit the training unit or to renew its accreditation.

4. Responsibilities
The CVA is responsible for providing the questionnaires. The training unit to be inspected is responsible for filling in the questionnaires adequately and for furnishing the relevant documents. The team leader is responsible for the actual visitation and for drawing up the report in good time.

5. Comments
Visitations are applied for by the COR. These visitations are not as strictly regulated as the CCKL visitations. Only documents relating to the program director, the training structure and the current and planned training programmes must be in good order. The COR is responsible for the training plan. The visitation committee does not assess the training plan, but assesses - partly on the basis of the training plan - the way in which the trainers implement the training programme and review the facilities.

6. Literature and Appendices
Appendix 1. Documents to be submitted for visitation of a Medical Immunology training programme