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NCOPE continues to monitor the evolving coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization, local and national government statements and its potential impact to residency program education and academic programs.

NCOPE Office

While we at NCOPE continue our work as usual, all staff are currently working remotely.  As a cloud-based organization with a strong infrastructure, we are prepared to manage NCOPE business continuity virtually.  We anticipate no impact to our accreditation services and are confident in our ability to continue serving our customers, with little interruption.  You can continue to call or email us for any of your needs.

NCOPE staff have whatever they need to work remotely if needed and to continue doing their jobs securely. We have increased channels of internal communication, and as always, prioritize communication with you, our education and residency community, so you can remain focused on your business challenges and goals.

NCOPE Response

We have received multiple questions regarding NCOPE’s response to programs that experience operational disruptions (e.g. university closures, clinical site restrictions, etc). NCOPE supports the efforts of residency programs and institutions to determine the best alternatives for residents and graduate students to complete their program/degree requirements and recognize COVID-19 will likely disrupt normal operations.  NCOPE’s expectations are that programs continue to provide opportunities for knowledge and skills to be developed, and that programs are confident in the competencies of their graduates/residents to enter the workforce.  To assist residency programs, we have generated a guidance document to address common issues being faced by many organizations, which can be accessed by CLICKING HERE.

Please note that external regulatory requirements beyond NCOPE should be considered as you engage in contingency planning. To better assist you in that planning, we also strongly encourage you to consult with your university, institutional accrediting agency, and state’s regulatory/licensure guidelines as well as United States Department of Education policies.  The following resources may help you in your planning:

Resource Information

Academic/Residency Programs

United States Department of Education

This situation is evolving, and we will continue to monitor the situation as one of our top priorities. NCOPE will continue to develop additional information and resources.  Please feel free to share this information with anyone in your program/institution find appropriate and continue to check back for updates.

Don’t hesitate to contact Chris Robinson, clinical resource director (crobinson@ncope.org) or Robin Seabrook, executive director (rseabrook@ncope.org) if you have specific questions.

Updated 4/1/2020 to add additional resource links.