Training Inspections
After completing the application process and initial training requirements, you will be scheduled for a FACT on-site inspection with an experienced inspection team. You are there to observe experienced inspectors, improve your understanding of the Standards and accepted interpretations, become familiar with the inspection process, practice report preparation, and gain confidence. An inspector with the same area of expertise (clinical, collection, processing, or banking) will be your mentor, whom you will accompany during the on-site inspection. As we are getting to know you, it is helpful to verify that your assigned training inspection matches your area of expertise.
The trainee inspector’s role during the on-site inspection is strictly observational. You are there to observe the mentor’s process of touring the facility, interviewing personnel, and reviewing records.
Although the inspection may be a training opportunity for you, it is a very real inspection for the applicant.
To prevent confusion and to ensure the applicant’s compliance is assessed by experienced inspectors, do not interact directly with program personnel (e.g., ask questions, share observations during the exit interview). If there are differences of opinion between an applicant staff member and the inspector, you should not become directly involved.
It is absolutely appropriate for you to raise concerns or questions with your mentor in private and to draw attention to something that may violate a standard.
There are steps in the trainee inspection when you will actually perform the work. Before the inspection, you will review the program’s compliance application and documents. If you have questions about any of the documents, or about the inspection in general, contact your mentor or FACT accreditation coordinator (not the program personnel). Print out the inspection checklist emailed to you by your FACT accreditation coordinator and take it with you to the inspection. Upon arriving at the location of the inspection, attend the pre-inspection team meeting and observe the entire inspection: the introductory meeting, the facility tour, the documentation review, and the exit interview. While your mentor is conducting the inspection, complete the trainee inspection checklist. After the inspection, compare your findings with your mentor’s. Within three days of the inspection, send your completed checklist (including descriptions of deficiencies in the comments column) to your mentor and accreditation coordinator and complete the post-inspection evaluation. Review your mentor’s inspection report with him/her for an example of how to format and present findings in reports.