Montana Nurses Association
Provider Newsletter October, 2015
Making Your Voice Heard
The annual Montana Nurses Association Convention, with the theme “Nurses: The Heart of Health
Care”, was held in Helena Sept. 30 through Oct. 2. There were a number of very exciting things that
happened during this year’s convention. To highlight just a few:
1. ANA President Dr. Pam Cipriano spoke about today’s healthcare environment and opportunities
for nursing to have an active voice in shaping how healthcare systems operate, how patient care
is delivered, and how a healthy workplace enhances the ability of nurses to practice safety and
effectively.
2. Dr. Jeannie Brandt spoke about compassionate caring, highlight the key role of nurses in
providing quality care – physically, emotionally, and psychosocially. She used the acronym CARE
to highlight nurses’ abilities to provide compassion, advocacy, respect, and expertise in their
work.
3. Dr. Cynthia Gustafson, executive director of the Montana Board of Nursing, spoke about the
importance of identifying and maintaining professional boundaries. Her use of case studies
enabled participants to consider how they would make decisions about whether Board of
Nursing rules had been violated in specific situations.
4. Numerous concurrent session presenters challenged learners to consider various ways that
nurses promote health, prevent health problems, care for patients, advocate for nursing, and
take care of themselves so they can take care of others.
5. A press conference was held to feature launch of the MNA campaign, “Your Nurse Wears
Combat Boots”, focusing on the critical need to establish and promote safe working
environments, specifically related to violence committed against nurses. Press coverage was
featured by both print and TV media in Montana and subsequently across the country as well as
in Europe and South America!
6. The House of Delegates met to consider the work of the Association and make decisions
affecting future directions. These decisions have a direct impact on daily operations of MNA as
well as strategic initiatives to guide legislative efforts, educational programming, and workplace
advocacy.
7. Nominations were made and a slate of potential leaders prepared for member election,
including positions on the Board of Directors and the Council on Continuing Education.
If you are a nurse planner in a Montana-based provider unit, where were you? The continuing education
department is impacted by all of the actions and decisions of the House of Delegates. The House of
Delegates did honor the Continuing Education Department for honors received in 2015, and nurse
planners from our provider units were asked to stand and be recognized. I was disappointed that only
one person stood! Your work in your provider units is critically important (see subsequent section of this
newsletter), but so is your ability to impact decisions made about the future of the organization,
particularly in relation to priorities of the CE Department. Next year’s convention will be held on Oct. 5-7
in Helena, preceded by a Council on Continuing Education meeting on October 4. Please mark your
Montana Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of continuing nursing education by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
calendars now to plan to attend this important event. If you are interested in having a voice on the
Council on Continuing Education, convention is your opportunity to get your name on the ballot. Your
voice counts – please make it heard! For those of you based outside of Montana, if you have suggestions
for things that should be on the agenda for the Council on Continuing Education or for
recommendations to the MNA House of Delegates regarding the strategic goals and operations of the
Accredited Approver Unit, please let us know and we can pass those recommendations to the
appropriate people. Thank you for considering this important opportunity.
What is an “Approved Provider Manual”?
Several times over the past month, I have been contacted by people wanting to update their “approved
provider manual”, and I’ve read in a couple of provider applications that nurse planners use an
“approved provider manual”. I don’t know what this is, and I’m concerned about what your
organizations might have in your files.
The responsibility of an accredited provider is to assure that you have the current information and
instructions needed to effectively operate your provider unit AND effectively plan, implement, and
evaluate your continuing nursing education activities. To that end, our web site has a document called
“Instructions and Process Tips” that explains what is expected of you in operating your provider unit,
implementing your educational activities, and applying for renewal of your provider status. There is an
additional document called “Tips for Completing the Provider Application” that is your guide to writing
the self-study for provider renewal. In addition to these instructions, there are forms you can use in
activity planning, and additional resources to help you be effective.
These materials are kept current and reflect ANCC Accreditation Program criteria. These should be your
guiding resources, for the primary nurse planner and for all other nurse planners. Having a separate
“approved provider manual” in your own organization is NOT appropriate. It represents inappropriate
use of the time of the person putting it together, it reflects lack of awareness/use of current criteria as
noted on the MNA web site, and it jeopardizes the effectiveness of your provider unit and your activity
planning if current accreditation information is not being used.
If you have used such a document in the past, it is time to give it a dignified burial. Please do not
develop or use your own “provider manuals” in your provider units. Also, the “purple books” that many
of you have from several years ago are now outdated and should be discarded. The MNA web site is
your resource – please use it!! Let us know if there’s something you need that is not there, or if there
are improvements we can make to make this resource more effective and functional for you.
What is the Role of the Primary Nurse Planner?
A number of approved provider units have recently brought new primary nurse planners on board. This
provides a wonderful opportunity to remind everyone about the critically important role of the primary
nurse planner.
The key role of the primary nurse planner is to serve as the liaison to the Accredited Approver Unit of
the Montana Nurses Association. We, in turn, are accountable to the American Nurses Credentialing
Center’s (ANCC) Accreditation Program to assure that all provider units operating under our auspices are
following accreditation criteria and producing outcomes that improve the professional practice of
nursing and the improvement of patient care. Your job is to provide oversight and direction in your
approved provider unit to be sure these things are happening on a consistent, quantifiable, and valuable
way. Ultimately, the work of your provider unit impacts the mission, strategic goals, and outcomes of
your organizations.
As noted on the ANCC Primary Accreditation web site, “The ANCC Accreditation Program identifies
organizations worldwide that demonstrate excellence in continuing nursing education (CNE). Accredited
organizations use evidenced-based ANCC criteria to plan, implement and evaluate the highest quality
CNE activities. As a result, health ministries, nursing organizations, employers, and continuing education
enterprises rely on ANCC accreditation to call forth advanced nursing practice and improved outcomes”
http://www.nursecredentialing.org/Accreditation/Primary
Think about the key outcomes in today’s healthcare environment: assuring safe patient care, reducing
“never events”, decreasing avoidable readmissions, focusing on value-based purchasing where
reimbursement is based on quality of patient care, and assuring retention of qualified and effective
nursing personnel. The outcome measures you establish for your provider unit and the educational
activities you provide need to be purposeful in nature and designed to achieve measurable outcomes
showing that your provider unit is making a difference in your organization.
For those of you familiar with the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®, consider the role of the primary
nurse planner to be analogous to the role of the magnet director in an organization. The magnet
director holds a critical role in assuring that magnet criteria are met, that the organization is continually
operating in a way that promotes quality nursing practice, and that empirical outcomes demonstrate
that there is a continual effort to improve. Similarly, the primary nurse planner holds a critical role in
assuring that accreditation criteria are met, that the work of the provider unit contributes to the work of
the organization in promoting quality nursing practice, and that empirical outcomes demonstrate
professional practice development and improvement in patient care.
Your role is critical! Your guidance and support of other nurse planners, your advocacy for quality
education within your organizations, and your ability to analyze data to validate your effectiveness are
key functions. Providing continuing education and awarding contact hours to learners is not about filling
out forms and issuing certificates – it is about deliberate analysis of professional practice gaps,
development of appropriate educational initiatives, and measuring progress in improvements.
Thank you for the significant and important work that you do. Feel free to share this information with
others in your organization to help them understand and value the importance of your role and the time
commitment required to be effective. If we can be of assistance in providing support and/or more
information, please let us know.
Annual Survey
It’s almost time for the annual survey. Hopefully, you have been keeping track of your educational
activities on the spreadsheet provided to you at the beginning of the year. If not, this would be a good
time to start entering that data to be sure your document is complete by time of submission. We will be
sending the request for survey responses in early December. There will be three pieces of data required:
1. Demographic data about your provider unit, to be sure we have current and complete
information
2. The spreadsheet with information about each of your educational activities during the year
3. Response to monitoring questions, to assure your continual adherence to accreditation program
criteria.
Remember that response to the survey is mandatory, and suspension of your provider unit will result if
the survey data is not received by the required response date of January 31.
Upcoming MNA Events, Activities, and Opportunities
MNA Veteran Centered Care in the Civilian Health Care World: November 12, 2015 Helena
MNA Transition to Practice Workshop: January 24 – 25, 2016
Helena
MNA APRN Pharmacology Conference: March 4 - 5, 2016
Helena
National Nursing Professional Development Conferences In
2016
Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions
January 13-16
National Harbor, Washington DC
Early bird registration now open: www.acehp.org
CNE Symposium provided by ANCC
July 19 (probable date)
Pittsburgh, PA
Watch for registration early in 2016 through ANCC (www.nursecredentialing.org) or the ANPD
web site
Association for Nursing Professional Development (ANPD)
July 18-22
Pittsburgh, PA
Watch for registration early in 2016: www.anpd.org
Professional Nurse Educators Group (PNEG)
October 20-23
Columbus, OH
Call for abstracts will be open soon! www.pneg.org
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