June, 2015
Montana Nurses Association
Provider Newsletter
MNA Approver Unit receives
2015 Premier Award from ANCC
We are thrilled that the MNA Approver Unit has received the prestigious designation as the 2015 ANCC
Premier Award recipient. We couldn’t wait to share the good news, so you’ve already received an email
about this – and thanks to all of you who sent congratulatory responses! This award is presented
annually only if there is a qualified candidate – it’s not automatically given. As noted in the award letter
we received from ANCC: “The Premier Program Award recognizes accredited organizations that excel in
approving organizations and/or individuals to develop high quality continuing nursing education
activities. Organizations receiving the Premier Program Award demonstrate excellence in leadership
ability and promoting the use of innovative and creative education strategies to meet the needs of
learners.”
Please know that this award is recognition of the work we are doing collectively to improve quality
continuing nursing education. MNA would not have received the award without having the evidence to
support our work – and that evidence comes from what you are doing in your provider units! We are so
proud to partner with you in leading change efforts that are impacting not only our own work, but those
of other providers around the country and around the world. The work we do, and the things we share
through publications, participation in conferences, and in feedback to ANCC, are truly making a
difference.
The entire MNA CE team (Pam, Kathy, Mary, along with our Executive Director Vicky Byrd) will be guests
of ANCC’s Accreditation Program at the annual CNE Symposium held on July 14 in Las Vegas, where we
will officially receive the award.
Congratulations to Shands Healthcare
Our Florida approved provider, Shands Healthcare/University of Florida Health (Gainesville, FL),
was recognized this spring by ANCC’s Certification Program for achieving the highest number of
nurses certified through the Success PaysTM program. This program allows hospitals to contract
Montana Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of continuing nursing education by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
with ANCC’s Certification Program to offer certification opportunities to nurses – the hospital is
charged only when a nurse successfully achieves certification. This program reduces financial risk
to organizations and helps them achieve higher levels of certification among their nursing staff.
According to Jean Bulmer, DNP, RN-BC, primary nurse planner, all new hires at Shands Healthcare
are expected to have both certification in their practice areas and a minimum of a baccalaureate
degree within two years of hire. The provider unit makes a substantial contribution to helping
nurses prepare for, achieve, and maintain certification. Congratulations!
Provider Update Synopsis and Resources
Thanks to all of you who participated in our spring Provider Update sessions. In Alaska, the Provider
Update was a two-day experience. The first day focused on individual activity development and
strategies for planning interprofessional continuing education activities. Day two focused on provider
unit issues and opportunities. In Montana, a one-day Provider Update workshop included both
individual activity and provider unit discussions and small group activities. Evaluation data indicates that
we were on target in addressing many of your questions and needs (practice gaps!), and several followup emails from nurse planners have provided outcomes data in terms of new strategies for assessing
gaps, conducting needs assessments, evaluating conflicts of interest, and awarding contact hours for
creative teaching/learning strategies. This is SO exciting! Keep those ideas coming – and let us know how
we can help you as you try out new things.
There were some specific resources that people requested as a result of our discussions:
a) National Learning Competencies were updated by the Alliance for Continuing Education in
the Health Professions in 2013. They address eight key areas of functioning for those who
plan, implement, and evaluate continuing education activities for all health professions.
Each competency is described and expected behaviors are delineated for the novice,
competent/proficient, and expert practitioner. I served on the task force that did this work,
and one of my main concerns was assuring that there was alignment between these
competencies and the Scope and Standards for Nursing Professional Development published
by ANA and the Association for Nursing Professional Development (ANPD). As we
increasingly work with colleagues in medical education and other educational development
departments, it is important that we all understand and work from a consistent competency
framework. The National Learning Competencies can be accessed at
http://www.acehp.org/p/cm/ld/fid=15
b) Interprofessional Competencies for clinical practice were developed in 2011 by an
Interprofessional Education Collaborative. This group was made up of representatives from
the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the American Association of Colleges of
Osteopathic Medicine, the American Academy of Colleges of Pharmacy, the American
Dental Education Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, and the
Association of Schools of Public Health. Similar to the competencies identified by the IOM in
2003 related to how members of the healthcare team should work together, these
Montana Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of continuing nursing education by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
competencies relate to collaborative efforts of all healthcare professionals in improving
patient care and outcomes. The document, entitled “Core Competencies for
Interprofessional Collaborative Practice”, can be accessed at
http://www.aacn.nche.edu/education-resources/IPECReport.pdf
c) Writing test questions is often a challenge for CE providers. How do you construct a test that is
valid and reliable? What is the best available current evidence about test writing? Two resources
for test-writing information are:
Siroky, K., and Case di Leonardi, B. (2015). Refine test items for accurate measurement: six valuable
tips. Journal for Nurses in Professional Development 31(1), 2-6, and
Edwards, B., Arthur, W., Bruce, L. (2012). The three-option format for knowledge and ability multiple
choice tests: a case for why it should be more commonly used in personnel testing. International
Journal of Selection and Assessment 20(1), 65-81.
The Siroky/Case di Leonardi article is available at
http://journals.lww.com/jnsdonline/Fulltext/2015/01000/Refine_Test_Items_for_Accurate_Measur
ement__Six.2.aspx
As an additional note, the Association for Nursing Professional Development will be hosting a
workshop on “Basics of Test Construction” with Dr. Case di Leonardi on August 27. Visit
www.anpd.org for additional information about this and other upcoming webinars.
d)
The “two plus two plus two” strategy for providing feedback to learners and extending the
learning experience allows for providers and learners to keep in contact after an event
concludes. This strategy also provides for convenient collection of outcomes data. We have
been using this strategy since the Provider Updates and have received excellent questions and
comments from a number of you. Thanks for that!! You can learn more about this strategy in an
article about Brain Science at http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/1423/brainscience-enable-your-brain-to-remember-almost-everything
Provider Update Dates for 2016
Mark your calendars now for the 2016 Provider Updates!
Alaska: April 28 and 29 – Providence Alaska Medical Center, Anchorage
Montana: May 5 and 6 – Great Northern Hotel and Conference Center, Helena
We appreciate your input regarding dates and locations. While we try to accommodate your requests as
much as possible, our key goals are to have quality conferences in convenient locations at reasonable
cost and on workable dates. We take all of those factors into consideration in making our final decision.
Montana Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of continuing nursing education by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
The agendas will be determined collaboratively over the next few months. If there are specific ideas you
have for topics, please email Pam or Kathy with your suggestions.
MNA’s Provider Unit Achieves Accreditation
As you know, our Provider Unit has been operating for many years as an approved provider under the
Ohio Nurses Association. This required us to meet not only ANCC Accreditation Program standards but
also rules imposed by the Ohio Board of Nursing, some of which were inconsistent with ANCC
expectations. As of May 18, 2015, we now have status as an Accredited Provider through ANCC. This
gives us broader ability to provide quality continuing nursing education at the national/international
level and frees us to be creative and innovative in delivering quality programming within the
Accreditation Program criteria. This is an exciting milestone for MNA. Pam continues to serve as the
leader of the provider unit, transitioning from Primary Nurse Planner to Lead Nurse Planner. Mary
Thomas, the RN Continuing Education Specialist at MNA, is a Nurse Planner, and Continuing Education
Specialist Kathy Schaefer continues to provide stellar support to the work of the provider unit.
Upcoming Educational Opportunities for
Nurse Planners
All of these activities are currently open for registration. All will be jointly provided by the Ohio Nurses
Association and the Montana Nurses Association, and I will be the speaker for each session. Registration
is open and being handled by ONA. Registration for each webinar is limited to 100 participants, so please
register as soon as you confirm that you will be able to participate. Webinars will be archived for viewing
at a later date if you are unable to attend the real-time session.
How To Facilitate A Webinar
Date: Tuesday, July 28 at 10 am MDT (12 noon on the east coast, 8 am in Alaska) OR
Thursday, September 24 at 12 noon MDT (2 pm on the east coast, 10 am in Alaska)
Registration: Go to www.ohnurses.org and click on “events’ Or go to the direct link:
July 28: https://www.ohnurses.org/events/July-28-2015-how-to-facilitate-a-webinar/
September 24: https://www.ohnurses.org/events/september-24-2015-how-to-facilitate-awebinar/
Cost: $15
Contact Hours: 1.08
Montana Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of continuing nursing education by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Fall Webinar Series on Content Integrity
Session 1: Addressing Conflict of Interest
Dates: Tuesday, September 15 at 8 am MDT (10 am on the east coast, 6 am in Alaska)
OR Wednesday, September 16 at 1 pm MDT (3 pm on the east coast, 11 am in
Alaska)
Session 2: Managing Commercial Support
Dates: Tuesday, October 13 at 8 am MDT (10 am on the east coast, 6 am in Alaska) OR
Wednesday, October 14 at 1 pm MDT (3 pm on the east coast, 11 am in Alaska)
Session 3: Educational Design – Assuring Fair and Balanced Content
Dates: Tuesday, November 17 at 8 am MDT (10 am on the east coast, 6 am in Alaska)
OR Thursday, November 19 at 1 pm MDT (3 pm on the east coast, 11 am in
Alaska)
Registration: https://www.ohnurses.org/events/content-integrity-webinars/
Cost: $45 for the series (you don’t have to commit to one date or the other when you
register)
Contact Hours: 1.08 per session
Contact Pam or Kathy for additional information about any of these webinars.
Advertise Your Educational Activities
Through MNA
For Montana providers: Would you like to “spread the word” about continuing education activities you
are doing in your provider units that are open for general registration? We can help! Given enough
advance notice, we can publish information about your upcoming activity in the Pulse, our quarterly
newspaper that goes to every nurse in Montana. If there is enough interest, we can start a page titled
“Continuing Education Opportunities” where we provide a brief description of your activity, the date,
the cost, and the number of contact hours. Additionally, we can use our social media resources (web
site, facebook, and twitter) to help you share information about your event. This is consistent with
MNA’s mission of improving education for Montana nurses and can help you increase knowledge about
and hopefully participation in your events.
For our out-of-Montana provider units, we realize that publication in the Pulse is not going to be of
value to you, but if we can help market your activities through any of our other sources, we’ll be glad to
help you with that. Let us know!
Montana Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of continuing nursing education by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Upcoming MNA Activities
Convention: September 30 – October 2, 2015
Helena
Veteran Centered Care in the Civilian Health Care World: November 12, 2015 Helena
Transition to Practice: January 24 – 25, 2016
Helena
APRN Pharmacology Conference: March 4 - 5, 2016
Helena
Contact Information
Pam Dickerson, PhD, RN-BC, FAAN, Director of Continuing Education
pam@mtnurses.org
1-406-465-9126
Kathy Schaefer, BA, Continuing Education Specialist
kathy@mtnurses.org
1-406-442-6710
Mary Thomas, BA, RN, OCN
mary@mtnurses.org
1-406-442-6710
Montana Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of continuing nursing education by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.