RhMSUS™ Volunteer Opportunities

The ACR’s Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Certification in Rheumatology RhMSUS™ program could not and cannot exist without the time, effort, talent, and experience of its volunteer leadership and committee members. RhMSUS™ welcomes self-nominations or nominations from colleagues for a position on the Oversight Committee or Appeals Subcommittee. Most elected terms are three years with the opportunity to be re-appointed for one additional term.

Volunteer Nominations Are Open

We are currently welcoming self-nominations for positions on the ACR Musculoskeletal Certification Program Oversight Committee. Elected terms are up to 3 years. Please note that this Committee slate is being filled outside of the normal ACR Nominations Cycle and appointments will commence in June and/or immediately following Board approval of the appointment recommendation as submitted by the ACR Committee on Nominations.

Deadline: April 17, 2023

Submit Volunteer Nomination

RhMSUS™ Committees

Below are descriptions of the RhMSUS™ committees along with their current volunteers.

Oversight Committee

Volunteers

Coming soon

Committee Description and Charge
The ACR Musculoskeletal Certification Program Oversight Committee shall have responsibility for the organization and implementation of the ACR Musculoskeletal Certification Program. The Committee shall:

  • Develop, implement, and monitor program eligibility requirements
  • Develop and implement certification policies and procedures
  • Review and approve all examination items
  • Develop and implement standards for recertification
  • Review domains and tasks annually to ensure relevance/accuracy
  • Review testing data and make recommendations for research studies

The Committee shall also select and appoint members of the Examination-Item Development Group, Examination Assembly and Review Group, Examination-Criterion Group, Job Analysis Group, and other groups and sub-committees as the Committee deems necessary or appropriate to carry out its objectives. All such appointments shall be subject to the approval of the Board of Directors or Executive Committee and Executive Vice President.

Committee Member Time Commitments

  • Participate in webinars, conference calls, and emails as needed
  • 30–50 hours on outside work
  • The committee does a fair amount of time-sensitive work via email, requiring that members be extremely responsive and able to work under short timeframes

Committee Eligibility Criteria Including Special Positions
The ACR Musculoskeletal Certification Program Oversight Committee will consist of five (5) members plus the Director, Certification, who will serve ex officio as a nonvoting member.

Initial appointments of Oversight Committee members are made by the ACR Board of Directors, as follows: One member will be appointed as Chair of the Oversight Committee; one member will be appointed as Chair of the Examination Group(s); two members will be appointed as at-large appointees, and the fifth member will be appointed as a representative of the public.

The term of office for Oversight Committee members will be four (4) years and staggered, with the opportunity to be re-appointed for one additional term.

The following expectations pertain to the nomination and appointment of all members of the Oversight Committee:

  • All members of the Oversight Committee must strongly support the vision of the certification program and be committed to ensuring its successful implementation.
  • Membership on the Oversight Committee is volunteer based.
  • All appropriate stakeholders should be involved – candidates, certificants, patients, and the public, with due consideration to gender and all other facets of diversity, to the fullest extent possible.
  • All members must sign a confidentiality agreement committing to strict confidence and not to use or disclose any confidential information.
  • Five or more years as an educator or direct supervisor (does not apply to public member).

The following expectations pertain to the nomination and appointment of the public member of the Oversight Committee:

  • The public member represents the direct and indirect users of certificants’ skills and/or services. Because this may be defined broadly, a rotating system for representation of various publics may be implemented over time.
  • The public member may be a professional, but should not have similar credentials to certificants.
  • The public member may be or have been a potential consumer of the certificants’ skills or services.
  • The public member should also have experience with public advocacy.

Committee Member Conflict of Interest Policies
Members of the Oversight Committee have fiduciary responsibility for the certification of qualified individuals who meet its standards related to the performance of musculoskeletal ultrasound in their practice of rheumatology. The primary obligations are to stakeholders (e.g., patients, employers). In order for Oversight Committee members to ensure their decisions uphold these obligations, all Oversight Committee members will abide by the following requirements concerning conflict of Interest:

  • Members whose primary employment is in commercial entities or health care insurance companies are not eligible to serve on the Oversight Committee.
  • Members of the Oversight Committee must be free of conflict of interest relevant to the subject matter throughout the length of their term and for 12 months following the end of their term.
  • Members of the Oversight Committee cannot serve as course directors or planning committee members for any CME granting musculoskeletal ultrasound instructional courses including ACR courses throughout the length of their term and for 12 months following the end of their term.*
  • Members of any entity that provides training that fulfills RhMSUS Program eligibility criteria cannot serve on the Oversight Committee.
  • Members cannot serve as members of the ACR Committee on Education or the ACR Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Planning Committee throughout the length of their term and for 12 months following the end of their term.

*The Chair of the Examination Group(s) cannot serve as faculty for any musculoskeletal ultrasound instructional course including CME and non-CME courses and ACR courses throughout the length of their term and for 12 months following the end of their term.

The Examination Group(s) will carry out the review and approval of all examination items on behalf of the Oversight Committee. Except for the Chair of the Examination Groups, members of the Oversight Committee shall not review the examination in its entirety or any individual questions unless their opinion regarding an individual question is specifically requested by the psychometric consultant, other committee leaders within RhMSUS, the ACR staff member for RhMSUS or the ACR board.

Appeals Subcommittee

Volunteers

Coming soon

Roles

  • Review candidates' appeals when candidates are not satisfied with the original decision of the certification
  • Make recommendations related to certification policies and procedures to oversight committee as needed

Desired Expertise

  • Comprehensive understanding of the ACR's certification policies and procedures

Time Commitments

  • Webinars, conference calls, and emails as needed
  • Members are "on call" for issues that arise requiring that members be extremely responsive and able to work under short timeframes

Examination Development: Item Development Group

Volunteers

Appointed by Oversight Committee

Roles

  • Write, review, and validate multiple-choice test items

Desired Expertise

  • Must have good understanding of the knowledge and skills required of the minimally competent professional and five+ years as an educator or direct supervisor
  • Skill in question writing is preferred

Time Commitments

  • Submission to item writing bank
  • Webinars, conference calls, and emails as needed

Examination Development: Review and Assembly Group

Volunteers

Appointed by Oversight Committee

Roles

  • Assemble examination forms according to the examination blueprint, following psychometric and editorial review of the multiple-choice test items

Desired Expertise

  • Must have good understanding of the knowledge and skills required of the minimally competent professional and five+ years as an educator or direct supervisor
  • Skill in question writing is preferred

Time Commitments

  • Webinars, conference calls, and emails as needed

Examination Development: Criterion Group

Volunteers

Appointed by Oversight Committee

Roles

  • Evaluate each test item according to its relevance and difficulty for the minimally-competent professional

Desired Expertise

  • Must have good understanding of the knowledge and skills required of the minimally competent professional and five+ years as an educator or direct supervisor

Time Commitments

  • Webinars, conference calls, and emails as needed

Examination Development: Job Analysis Group

Volunteers

Appointed by Oversight Committee

Roles

  • Evaluate each test prompt according to its relevance and difficulty for the minimally competent professional. Update as needed.

Desired Expertise

  • Must have good understanding of the knowledge and skills required of the minimally competent professional and five+ years as an educator or direct supervisor

Time Commitments

  • Webinars, conference calls, and emails as needed

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