Clearly, there are standards of infection control and of behavior that all caring clowns should respect.

This sounds like a job for a Caring Clown Associaton that can itemize, publish and distribute the standards, with enforcement on the honor system. COAI publshes a Code of Ethics,called the Eight Clown Commandments.

Certification is a tricky issue. Perhaps clowns agreeing to honor the standards set by the Caring Clown Association can be certified by the Association. The certification may be a useful credential; a skeptical hospital administrator could be swayed to "auditon" clowns. (Childrens' Memorial Hospital was approached by a clown who came to Chicago from Jeanne Lindstrom's
troupe in Boston. After calling and speaking to Jeanne, the volunteer coordinator agreed to "audition" the clowns.That was over three years ago. We were accepted immediately.)

I feel that certification should be on an individual hospital level and needs to be worked out with the clowns and the hopital jointly. Each hospital will vary depending on who you are working with in the hospital's administrative echelon. That person or persons will have a lot to say about your functioning in their hospital based on not only common sense but their own idiosyncrasies.

Being a professional in my "other", non-clowning, life (Minister) I understand and appreciate the need for standards. One would hope that any clown who wishes to enter a hospital or other clinical setting would avail themselves of training and would have enough self-discipline to abide by the Clown Code of Ethics as well as the particular hospital's (or other facility's) infection control and privacy concerns. National standards could be a good thing, especially for crdentialling IF enough people could be enlisted to make the group credible. On the one hand, I hate to see clowning become just anouther rule-oriented activity. On the other hand, I realize that--just like in my profession--there are those who will cut corners and give everyone else a bad name. If nothing else, we should encourage ethical behavior and education.