The ARC/STSA Board of Directors approved revisions to four policies to better align with Standards verbiage, and provide greater clarity and consistent formatting. The updated policies will become effective September 1, 2026, to allow programs time to review the revisions to the four policies, which are listed below. The revised policies are posted on the Policies and Procedures page of the ARC/STSA website at https://arcstsa.org/policies/.
Program Advisory Committee (PAC) Member and Meeting Policy
Alignment with Distance Education Policy and Separate Instructional Site Policy regarding representation on Program Advisory Committee, and PAC discussion, if applicable
Clarification regarding post-meeting documentation of contributions from an absentee member
Separate Instructional Site Policy
Alignment of Program Advisory representation, if applicable
Reminder that curriculum offered at the Separate Instructional Site must meet or exceed the content and competencies in the current core curriculum for Surgical Technology/Surgical Assisting per Appendix B of the respective Standards
Virtual Site Visit Policy – Initial Accreditation
Post-pandemic verbiage updates
In addition, the Curriculum Comparison Maps for both Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting programs have been updated with a column to record where the learning objectives from the core curriculum are assessed. The updated maps are posted on the Forms page of the ARC/STSA website athttps://arcstsa.org/forms/, under the Curriculum subheading for Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting.
Staff will present a live Office Hour webinar on March 16 from 11 a.m. – 12 noon to review the revisions to the four policies listed above and the Curriculum Comparison Maps, and answer any questions. The webinar will be recorded and posted shortly after the live session at https://arcstsa.org/webinars/. Register for the live help session at https://arcstsa.org/webinars/.
