Board Certification is not the same as Provisional Board Certification. Anyone who is already a degree-holding audiologist may apply for ABA Board Certification.
Provisional Board Certification means that you are applying early for certification but still need to complete certain criteria before becoming fully credentialed. Among those requirements are passing a national exam and having had 2000 hours of mentored experience after required audiology coursework and practicum experiences are completed.
Can I get Provisional Certification before I graduate?
You most certainly can! The purpose of Provisional Certification is to get the ball rolling towards your becoming fully board certified. You may apply for Provisional Certification after you have completed the required audiology coursework in an AuD program and acquired 375 contact hours of patient care.
What are the basic audiology coursework and practicum mentioned above?
In an AuD program, we're talking about the coursework and practicum experiences that qualify you to undertake the one-year residency that takes place in the last year of your program's curriculum.
According to the ABA Application Handbook, I need 375 contact hours. What are they?
The 375 contact hours are the same as the practicum experience hours accrued while taking the first two or three years of audiology coursework in an AuD program. The hours are counted from actual patient contact.
How does one define "contact hours?"
These hours effectively count for the time you spend treating or "touching" patients. This rule of thumb may help: if the patient was with you during the service you performed, you can probably count it. Since the patient is usually not around while you write reports, enter chart data, fill out hearing aid forms, etc., you should not count those hours as contact.
The most important concept of all is not the counting of hours, but the counting of clinical experiences. During the start of AuD training, students initially get little first-hand experience "touching" patients. However those hours grow and accumulate to the extent that it is not unreasonable to review one's experiences at the end of two years and realize at least 375 hours came from actual patient interactions.
Do the 375 hours count only off-campus?
You should be collecting hours in real-time patient experiences on-campus or off. Labs and learning to operate equipment, becoming familiar with test protocols and testing other students can't count. The 375 hours are often earned in conjunction with academic coursework basic to an AuD curriculum, so it doesn't matter if you are on-campus or off or if the experience is in any particular sequence. The contact hours count so long as you are directly supervised by a licensed audiologist.
When do I document the 375 hours?
It would be smart for you to initiate documentation of these hours from the beginning of coursework, each semester. Keep on top of this documentation as it would be impractical and even unethical to ask someone who supervised you to attempt to recall the time you put in.
How do I document the 375 hours?
Every school probably has its own forms for documenting practicum experiences. Check with your school for the particulars. At minimum, the following should be on any form listing your practicum experiences:
- Date of each experience
- Hours of each experience
- Total accumulation of hours at the facility
- The location(s) of the experiences
- Types of experiences (testing, [re]habilitation, screening, etc.)
- Patient demographics (i.e., age group of each patient (neonate, pediatric, adult, geriatric), unique patient profiles (i.e., active and functioning, developmentally disabled, hard of hearing or deaf, etc.)
- Who supervised you during the experience and verification of that person's professional state license or ABA certification
Can I use the 375 hours towards my 2000 hours of mentored professional practice?
No. The 375 hours are concerned with your acquiring basic audiology clinical skills. They may only be counted from actual patient contact. It might help to think of it this way: the 375 hours should give me enough experience and competence to start 2000 hours of mentored professional practice, a.k.a., clinical residency.
What are the 2000 hours of mentored professional practice?
The 2000 hours of mentored professional practice are the same as your residency year in an AuD program. These hours include all aspects of work typical of a clinical audiologist: testing, counseling, programming, staffing, paperwork, etc.
How are the 2000 hours of mentored professional practice or experience defined?
For someone in an AuD program, the 2000 hours are the same as the residency year. It is equal to a 12-month year of full-time audiology work. "Mentored" means that you have an experienced audiologist who is consistently available to help, answer questions and in effect, supervise you throughout that period. The mentor must be a licensed and/or ABA certified audiologist.
What documentation of my 2000 hours is necessary?
The documentation necessary for your 2000 hours of mentored experience are submitted on ABA's Professional Practice Summary Form for Provisional Certificants (Form #6). After you have completed the 2000 hours you must submit ABA's Professional Practice Summary & Verification Form for Provisional Certificants (Form #7).
If I apply for Provisional Certification, will I be a Board Certified Audiologist upon completion of my mentored professional practice?
The American Board of Audiology reviews applications every 4–8 weeks. Upon completion and submission of all necessary paperwork, test scores and transcripts, your application will be reviewed. You will be contacted when ABA grants you full Board Certification or in the event any issues or problems arise with regards to your application.