Orientation for New Site Visitors
Important CIDA Policies
Introduction
This presentation introduces important CIDA policies.
Before participating in a site visit, you should review
the training presentations on CIDA’s website, the Site
Visitor Handbook, and attend an in-person training
workshop.
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CIDA Policy
This presentation focuses on the following policies:
Site Visitor Conduct
Conflict of Interest
Confidentiality and Disclosure
Conflict Resolution
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Site Visitor Conduct:
 Site visitors do not receive honoraria.
 Site visitors are prohibited from accepting gifts of
significant value from programs being reviewed.
 Site visitors must adhere to CIDA’s confidentiality and
disclosure policy (see slides 9-11).
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Conflict of Interest
 CIDA staff, volunteers, and board members must avoid
all conflicts of interest between CIDA and personal,
professional, and business interests.
 All actual and potential conflicts, and any situations
that could cause the perception of conflicts of interest,
must be avoided.
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Conflict of Interest
 Site visitors cannot participate in decisions in which
he/she has (or appears to have) financial or personal
interest.
 Site visitors cannot participate in decisions in which
he/she has (or appears to have) divided loyalties or
conflicts due to present business, organizational,
institutional, or program association.
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Conflict of Interest
 Programs being visited are responsible for reviewing
site visitor credentials and identifying conflicts of
interest.
 If a potential conflict is identified, a program may
request that certain site visitor(s) be replaced.
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Conflict of Interest
Examples of conflicts of interest include:
 Graduate of the program being reviewed.
 Close personal/professional relationship with someone
associated with the program being reviewed.
 Service as a consultant to the program being reviewed.
If you are invited to review a program, and feel there
may be a conflict of interest, please contact CIDA staff!
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Confidentiality and Disclosure
 Site visitors must respect the confidentiality of
programs involved in the accreditation process.
 Only people directly involved in the accreditation
process (team mates, CIDA staff, program faculty) may
discuss a program.
 Site visitors should not identify programs involved in
the accreditation process by name to persons not
directly involved in the accreditation process.
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Confidentiality and Disclosure
It is important for site visitors to avoid the following:
 Naming (or otherwise identifying) programs that you
have or will review when talking to colleagues, friends,
or any person not directly involved in the accreditation
process. For example, when requesting time away, do
not name the program you will review.
 Naming a specific program and describing events or
interactions with faculty. This is important to
remember when sharing experiences, even with other
CIDA volunteers.
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Confidentiality and Disclosure
 The PAR, VTR, Accreditation Report, and any site visit
correspondence are confidential documents.
 Only the program has the right to disclose the content
of these documents.
 Correspondence and documents may not be shared
with people who are not directly involved in the
accreditation process.
 Once a final accreditation decision has been made, you
should destroy these documents.
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CIDA Policy and Procedure
Confidentiality and Disclosure:
 The Accreditation Commission makes final decisions on
accreditation status.
 The visiting team makes a recommendation for
accreditation status in their report, which is sent to the
program for review.
 The team is not obligated to divulge this
recommendation to the program during the site visit.
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CIDA Policy and Procedure
Conflict Resolution:
 Visiting teams are composed to represent a variety of
viewpoints, which creates the potential for conflict.
 You must be willing and able to solve conflicts by
working to understand differences of opinion.
 You should demonstrate appreciation of diverse
perspectives.
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CIDA Policy and Procedure
Conflict Resolution:
 The team chair or co-chairs will provide leadership and
assist in resolving any conflicts that arise onsite.
 CIDA staff may be contacted if the team is unable to
resolve a conflict.
 All team members must agree on the level of
compliance marked for each Standard and the
recommended accreditation status before the end of
the site visit.
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CIDA Policy and Procedure
All policies and procedures are addressed in detail in
CIDA’s Accreditation Policy and Procedure, available for
download at:
http://accredit-id.org/faculty-programs/policyprocedures/
Important policies and procedures are also addressed in
the Site Visitor Handbook and at site visitor training
workshops.
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Follow-up
Thank you for reviewing the Important CIDA Policies
presentation. Please complete a brief quiz using the link
below:
http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22CLNSWHEM2/
This quiz will take approximately 10 minutes. CIDA staff
will review your responses and forward you the results.
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