Is anyone using the CAP Competency Assessment Program? Is it time-consiming for generalists to keep up? Is it demanding of the person in charge of managing it, both in time and learning curve? In general has using it been a good experience? Is it worth the price? Could you also tell me how big your lab is? Thanks.

I am not using it, but it looks interesting. I asked CAP if they have a demo link, I'll post it if there is one. I like the idea we can add our own assessments too.

If you are talking about wet sample...they are almost same as CAP survay. You will receive samples to work on. You do not need to send answers back. You will receive correct answer from CAP so you can review them.

I don't think this is what Mabel is talking about.

Look at this section of the 2008 CAP Surveys catalog, on page 18.

See page 8 of the CAP order form for prices.

It looks like a new tool.

Here is some more info. The courses are offered by a company called Media Lab. It looks interesting.

http://www.medialabinc.net/index.asp

The lab manager has subscribed to this for continuing education/competency at my facility. He gets a report - I can't tell you if he pulls it up when he wants to or if it updates monthly or some other format - which details who has done which exercise and when. The report tells him what the inidividual scored, what the average score for everyone at this facility was and there is a comparison with what other facilities are scoring. He can print out a report for each tech to show them what is assigned to them and how they are doing. This report tells you what you have completed, what is started but not complete and what is finished (with your score).

When you log on with your password, the exercises assigned to you show up in a list. You pick what you want to tackle that day and get started. Most of them have a review section, then a test section. You get immediate feedback with your answers both in the review and test section. You see your score when you finish. Then it reviews you with material which relates to what you goofed up. If you can't finish an exercise, it remembers where you were and you can resume where you left off at a later time.

The exercises seem to be pretty thorough for the most part. They may include photos, graphs, tables, etc. He assigns section supervisors here all of the exercises:cries:and I have to say....I'm pretty lousy in Micro!

Overall, I think it can be a useful tool.

AMcCord

Just stumbled on this 2 yr old topic, but wanted to post anyway. Our lab recently signed up for this assessment tool and we have been very pleased. We found it a very cost effective tool requiring minimum effort from management. It seems to be a lot of bang for your educational buck.There are a pretty wide variety of courses available, from general lab safety and phlebotomy to specialized blood bank. There are also instrument specific checklists that you can customize, but we haven't done any of that yet. The program can be used as little or as much as you want to use it.

I use the CAP assessment as part of my overall competency tool in BB. We're a 275 bed hospital w/active heart and oncology programs. Usually there are 3 of us on days, with a rotating tech on afternoons and midnites. About 15 people are actually in the program. Yes, there is some complaining that the assessments cover areas we might not be doing (anticoagulants, preservatives for donor centers), but I think they need to have some understanding of these topics beyond what they learned in school. I allow them to use any texts, other sources, to complete the exams and require 70% as a passing grade. The CAP provides the ability to call reports and to actively monitor tech activity within the program (who's started, who's finished, what grade did they get?). It's not everything you need, but it fits in with the rest of my competency plan. I don't hand out wet samples, but I may give panel sheets, or some other "dry" antibody or other BB type problem. We've been on it for about a year now (chemistry only just started) and we like it.

Our lab has subscribed to this for the past few years and it is great. All of the supervisors are administrators but luckily we have one tech who manages this and it has been well received by the staff.

It is not hard for generalists or PRN staff to keep up with but like anything else you have to make/take the time to do it. The variety of competencies is good and if you don't pass a module you are assigned another one to help reinforce what you had trouble with.

I recommend it and from a cost perspective I think it was fairly reasonable.

Wondering what others do when an employee fails the assigned CAP competency? and then the re-assessment?