Guidelines for Arranging AHEC/SON Technical Assistance
Technical Assistance (TA) is defined as the provision of education-related consultation, support or assistance to practicing health professionals or to health care delivery institutions/units. Our office is pleased to be able to assist regional AHEC nursing personnel by identifying faculty who are available to provide TA throughout the North Carolina. Faculty members are willing to work through the nine regional AHECs to provide assistance to health care facilities and nursing programs across the state. To smooth the process of obtaining this assistance, we present the following guidelines, which describe how regional AHECs and the SON cooperatively administer these services.
Finding and contracting with speakers:
- Review this online SON/AHEC Speakers and Programs Catalogue to match faculty expertise with your regional needs. If you need assistance with identifying potential speakers, please call our office so that we can assist you.
- Once you have decided on a particular program or speaker, please contact Annie Taft directly by phone or email (see contact information). She will talk with the faculty member and see if she or he is willing to provide the service you need.
- One the faculty member has agreed to provide TA; you may contact the faculty member directly to discuss your needs. You may also have the agency who that is requesting the assistance talk with the faculty member. Please note that faculty members who provide technical assistance do not receive additional pay for this service. They do this as a part of their service obligation to the University.
- Once the speaker and the agency have reached an agreement, immediately contact the SON AHEC office and provide us with a description of what the faculty member has agreed to so in writing. That agreement should be shared with the faculty member and the agency
Making program and travel arrangements:
- The host AHEC makes all program presentation and accommodation arrangements for speakers. The SON makes all travel arrangement including automobiles and Med Air flights.
- If hotel accommodations are required, be sure to have them approved by our office in advance. We prefer that as host AHEC, you may make hotel reservations for a speaker; though we can make the arrangements if necessary. Remember, no AHEC may pay for the hotel room since that is a SON expense. Ask the speaker to charge the hotel room to a personal credit card and our office will reimburse that person for those costs after receiving the original hotel receipt and reimbursement form.
- If faculty members ask you to make travel arrangements for them, please refer them back to our office.
- If faculty members travel by Med Air,ground transportation from the airport is provided by the hosting AHEC.
Cancellations and Postponements:
- If it is necessary to cancel or postpone the planned TA, notify our office at least three days in advance of the scheduled date and let us know why the change is necessary.
Wrapping it all up:
- Once the Technical Assistance has been completed, please send our office the following information: the name of the faculty member who provided the technical assistance, the type of assistance that was provide and for whom it was provided, how long the assistance lasted and a brief evaluation of the service
Finally, Important Words of Advice:
- Because Technical Assistance is provided by full time faculty members, there are some limitations on how much time they may spend providing TA. In general, faculty members may provide no more than one day at a time or a total of three days providing this help to one agency. Assistance beyond that is most commonly provided by professional paid consultants.