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1
Montana Nurses
Association
Provider Newsletter: August, 2012
Greetings!
Accreditation Virtual Visit
On August 7, three members of the MNA staff and five member volunteers who serve as peer reviewers
and/or members of the MNA Council on Continuing Education met via a 3-hour telephone conference
call with two American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Accreditation program appraisers. The
appraisers conducted a very thorough analysis of our approver unit, addressing everything from our
infrastructure and resources to how we review individual activity and provider applications to how we
evaluate our effectiveness. They were especially sensitive to the significant role volunteer peer
reviewers play in carefully assessing applications to ensure that quality continuing nursing education is
being planned and provided. In addition to the virtual visit, appraisers interviewed 4 individual activity
applicants and 4 approved provider applicants to get their perceptions on the work of the MNA
Continuing Education Approver Unit. Thanks so much to each of you who took time from your busy
schedules to share information with our appraisers. We expect to have word on the ANCC Commission
on Accreditation decision sometime in September or October. Stay tuned!
Differentiating
Inservice
from
Continuing Education
The
Value of Being An
Approved
Provider
A frequent question relates to the difference between continuing education activities and inservice
education activities. There are several things that differentiate the two:
1. Inservice education is designed to address basic knowledge or skills needed by the learner in
order to fulfill specific employer-related requirements. Continuing education, on the other hand,
is education that is beyond basic and builds on previous knowledge and experience.
2. Inservice education is specific to knowledge and/or skills needed for one particular nursing unit,
department, or facility. Continuing education is generalizable – it can be “transported” and
applied in various practice settings.
3. Inservice education is fundamental to maintaining a job in a particular facility. Continuing
education enhances the professional development of the nurse learner and contributes to the
nurse’s ability to provide quality care, regardless of setting.
Consider these examples (see next page for the answers):
Montana Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of continuing nursing education by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
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1. A home care agency contracts with a new vendor to supply wound dressing products. The
agency requires each nurse to attend a one-hour class on how to use the new dressings. Is this
inservice or continuing education?
2. A hospital offers nursing grand rounds weekly. This week, their topic relates to a successful pilot
project on one nursing unit where the staff implemented bedside rounding. Is this inservice or
continuing education?
3. A nursing home provides a class for nurses on how to deal with behaviorally challenged
residents. Is this inservice or continuing education?
Upcoming
Opportunities
Upcoming
CriteriaLearning/Sharing
Changes
Webinar for Approved Providers
As promised, MNA will be offering webinars for approved providers, beginning on Monday, September
17, 2012, from 3-4 pm MDT. The topic, because this is a common area of concern, will be focused on
commercial support, sponsorship, and co-providing. We will be piloting new technology with these
initial webinars. Registration is required and limited to the first 25 participants, email
Kathy@mtnurses.org by 9/15/12 to register. There is no fee for this introductory session.
As we all learn how to use it effectively and efficiently, it is our hope to publish a monthly schedule of
webinars for approved providers and award contact hours for those sessions. If you have topics that you
would like to see addressed in this format, please contact Pam or Kathy with your suggestions.
Webinar for Those In the Process of Applying/Reapplying for Approved Provider Status
Is your provider application due to be renewed within the next 6-9 months? Do you know another
organization that is in the process of their initial application for approved provider status? A webinar for
those seeking approval/reapproval will be held on Wednesday, September 5, 2012, from 1-2 pm MDT.
Registration is required and limited to the first 25 participants, email Kathy@mtnurses.org by 9/3/12 to
register. There is no fee for this introductory session. If you know of someone not on the current email
list who would be interested, please provide contact information to Kathy.
Save the Dates for Provider Update in 2013
Anchorage, AK: Monday, May 13
Helena, MT: Thursday, May 16
Answers to Inservice/Continuing Education Questions:
1. When a facility has a particular product or piece of equipment that nurses are being educated to
use, this falls into the definition of inservice. Where this one might get tricky, though, is that the
Montana Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of continuing nursing education by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
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home care company may have a class that has 30 minutes of discussion about staging of
decubitus ulcers and the proper dressings for various types of wounds. This is followed by 30
minutes of instruction on how to use the particular products that this facility has purchased. In
this case, it would be reasonable to have 30 minutes with contact hours (0.5) and 30 minutes of
inservice education with no contact hours.
2. The grand rounds session is clearly education that is beyond basic (it provides a new way of
looking at the process of hand-off communication), it is generalizable and transportable (it can
be implemented any place nurses work), and it enhances the professional development of the
nurse, thus contributing to quality patient care. Award those contact hours!
3. From the description provided, we don’t have enough information to discern whether this is
inservice or continuing education. If the class instructs people on the policy and procedure of
this nursing home when residents are acting out, then the inservice definition prevails. If the
class is more generic in nature and describes various nursing interventions that might be used to
calm an agitated resident, perhaps including pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic approaches
to care, this would clearly fit the definition of continuing education. Just as with the first
example, it may be that the class is actually a combination of generalized information and
specific policy/procedure data. In that case, contact hours might be able to be awarded for part
of the activity.
Contact Information
Reminder
Contact
Information
Pam Dickerson, Director of Continuing Education
pam@mtnurses.org
1-406-465-9126
Kathy Schaefer, CE Specialist
kathy@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.