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VA SOS Quality Assurance Program |
What is a Quality Assurance Project Plan and why does VA SOS need one?
One of the priorities of the Virginia Save Our Stream program is to provide data that can be used by federal, state, and local governments, as well as interested citizens, colleges and universities, and other organizations. Data users will not use data unless it has been collected in a certain manner – with specific quality controls in place. VA SOS wants to be sure that its volunteers collect data in a certain manner – with quality controls in place, so that the data is useful. This “certain manner” is known in scientific terms as a quality assurance project plan (QAPP sometimes referred to as the QA/QC Plan). Quality Assurance generally refers to a broad plan for maintaining quality in all aspects of a program. This plan should describe how you will undertake your monitoring effort: proper documentation of all your procedures, training of volunteers, study design, data management and analysis, and specific quality control measures. Quality Control consists of the steps you will take to determine the validity of specific sampling and analytical procedures.
Quality Assurance Requirements
Volunteer Monitors
Roles
- Attends the proper training and passes the certification test
- Purchases and maintains approved sampling equipment
- Monitors adopted site(s) three to four times a year
Quality Assurance Measures:
- Must attend at least one training session given by VA SOS staff or a regional trainer
- The volunteer then has up to 18 months to practice the method and identification before becoming certified
- The volunteer cannot be certified during their initial training session. It is preferable for the volunteer to have at least one month in between training and certification to allow time to practice the method and identification
- If the volunteer continues to pass further quality assurance measures, (s)he will remain a certified volunteer
- If the volunteer misses sampling for 18 months, or 6 subsequent sampling events, (s)he will lose his or her certification status and must go through the certification process again
- All certified monitors must undergo a quality assurance audit once every two years. This involves a field visit by a quality assurance auditor. At the time the auditor reviews the volunteers’ field methods and equipment, the volunteers will also preserve their entire sample. The samples will be sent to the VA SOS Coordinator or designee who will re-identify these samples to check the volunteers’ identification skills
Quality Assurance Officer
Roles:
- Periodically goes into the field with volunteers to review their equipment and procedures
- Sends results of these observations to VA SOS Coordinator or designee in a timely fashion
- Helps volunteers preserve their samples for submittal to VA SOS Coordinator or designee for identification checks
Quality Assurance Measures:
- Volunteers wishing to become quality assurance auditors must have been a certified volunteer for at least 6 months and have completed at least two monitoring events. During these two monitoring events, the volunteer must have demonstrated their ability to follow the method by completely and accurately filling out the data forms for all monitoring events and have submitted the data to VA SOS.
- Additional training administered by the VA SOS staff is required.
- The Quality Assurance Officer complete at least two audits every two years to remain an auditor
Regional Coordinator
Roles:
- Does initial review and updates of local data and sends it to VA SOS Coordinator or designee in a timely fashion
- Makes sure volunteers in his or her area are progressing to certification and doing their sampling in a timely manner
Quality Assurance Measures:
- As this is a local organization position, no additional training is required to be a regional coordinator
Regional Trainer
Roles:
- Locally trains and certifies volunteers
- Maintains equipment needed to train volunteers
Quality Assurance Measures:
- Must have been a certified volunteer for at least 6 months and have completed at least two monitoring events. During these two monitoring events, the volunteer must have demonstrated his or her ability to follow the method by completely and accurately filling out the data forms for all monitoring events and have submitted the data to VA SOS
- The potential trainer must also have observed at least two training sessions implemented by VA SOS staff or regional trainers. The initial training session a volunteer attended to become a monitor may count as one of these sessions
- Additional training administered by the VA SOS staff is required before training other volunteers
- The potential regional trainer must complete the macroinvertebrate identification portion of the certification process again, but must receive a 100% in order to become a trainer
- VA SOS staff must observe the regional trainer’s first training session, either in person or via video tape, for review and comment on the trainers performance
- The regional trainer must complete at least one training session and certify at least one volunteer per year in order to remain a trainer
- In addition, the trainer must undergo an observation by VA SOS staff in person or by video once every two years
VA SOS Program Office
Roles:
- Provides training and follow-up testing to volunteers
- Trains additional regional trainers and quality assurance auditors
- Acts as quality assurance auditor when necessary
- Develops and maintains partnerships with groups and agencies across the state
- Assists in site selection
- Assist volunteers who have failed quality assurance procedures to correct problems
- Database manager – Reviews all incoming data, assesses for inclusion in database, makes all updates to database, makes the data available through reports and on the VA SOS website (www.vasos.org)
- Maintains databases of trained, certified, regional trainers, and quality assurance auditors
- Identifies, analyzes, and stores incoming quality assurance samples
- Identifies incoming unknown specimens for volunteers
- Develops and maintains reference and testing collections
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