9
1
Montana Nurses
Association
Provider Newsletter: November, 2012
Accreditation Achieved!
MNA received notification from the American Nurses Credentialing Center in late September that we
have received accreditation of our approver unit for four years, extending through February of 2017.
Based on our comprehensive self-study, virtual visit with ANCC appraisers (attended by members of our
staff and volunteer peer review team), and appraiser interviews with MNA’s “customers”, we were
granted Accreditation with Distinction. This means that we achieved the maximum length of
accreditation with no progress reports due! Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to the
success of this major project!
The
Value
of Accreditation
The Value of Being
An
Approved
Provider
The ANCC Commission on Accreditation has published a seminal white paper entitled “The Value of
Accreditation for Continuing Nursing Education: Quality Education Contributing to Quality Outcomes”.
This document is attached to the newsletter for your use. Please feel free to share this document with
your provider unit personnel, the administration of your organization, or others who would benefit from
the information. The only request is that the document be cited as follows:
American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation (2012). The Value of Accreditation
for Continuing Nursing Education: Quality Education Contributing to Quality Outcomes.
http://www.nursecredentialing.org/Accreditation/ResourcesServices/AccreditationWhitePaper2012.pdf
Peer Reviewer Education: A Direct Benefit to You
During November and December, all of the peer reviewers with the MNA Accredited Approver Unit will
be participating in webinar-based education to ensure their ability to accurately evaluate your provider
applications. Following this education, each peer reviewer will receive a standardized application to
review and evaluate. This data will be submitted to the ANCC Accreditation Program for evaluation by a
psychometrician in relation to a standardized application. Peer reviewers whose evaluation data meets
Montana Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of continuing nursing education by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
2
the standardized acceptable score will be authorized to continue in their roles, under the leadership of
the MNA Nurse Peer Review Leader. (Yes, I had to be evaluated first to determine that I was competent
in conducting reviews and teaching the process to others!) Peer reviewers who need additional
assistance will have the opportunity for additional learning experience to help them be successful.
What does this mean to your provider unit? There are two very important outcomes of this process that
will directly benefit you. First, and most importantly, every MNA peer reviewer will have met the
national standard for competence in the peer review process. You will have confidence that your
provider application and sample activities will be reviewed with quality and integrity by any member of
the review team. Second, these standards will apply to every accredited approver unit in the country, so
you will know that approved provider units throughout the United States are being evaluated equally
and are held to the same standards.
Upcoming Activities
MNA will be offering a number of learning activities in 2013. Scheduled to date are:







Transition from New Graduate to Professional Nurse – January 13-14, 2013
Legislative Breakfast – January 22, 2013
APRN Conference – April 5-6, 2013
Labor Retreat – April 21-23, 2013
Provider Update: Anchorage, AK – May 13, 2013
Provider Update: Helena, MT – May 16, 2013
MNA Convention – October 2-4, 2013
There will be a number of “live” activities added, as well as a number of webinars available in the new
year. Please let Kathy know if you have questions about any of these events. We will be sending
registration information for the Provider Update sessions after the first of the year. Watch the MNA web
site for information about these and other upcoming activities.
Contact Information
Opportunity
for You toReminder
Share Learning Activity Information
We would like very much to publish information about any of your upcoming educational activities that
are open for public registration. Please feel free to contact Kathy regarding posting information about
Montana Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of continuing nursing education by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
3
your activities on the MNA web site or in the Pulse. Pulse articles and/or advertisements need to be
submitted several months in advance of publication, so be sure you take the timeline into consideration
when you submit your information. Of course, if you mention in your description that contact hours will
be awarded for your activity, be sure to include your correct provider statement
Resource Materials Available To You
The MNA web site has a number of valuable resources to help you in planning and documenting your
learning activities and in completing your provider application. Please be aware that everyone should
now be using the 2013 documentation forms, biographical data forms, and planning tables. If you have
old documents in your files, this would be the perfect time to hit the delete button! Getting rid of old
materials will prevent copy/paste issues where old forms and processes are perpetuated. You should
find the 2013 forms very user-friendly and logical to follow. If you have questions or concerns, please
contact Pam or Kathy immediately so we can be sure you’re on the right track with your activity
planning, implementation, and evaluation.
We are in the final stages of writing a guide to help you prepare your provider application. We know
that the narrative style of writing to the criteria is very different, and we want to help you be successful.
The document will be published on the MNA web site within the next few weeks. If your provider
application is due between now and April 1, however, you should already be working on your responses.
If it would be helpful for you to have a draft of the guide, please let us know and we will send it to you
before it’s ready for posting on the web site.
2012 Data Reporting and Audit – Plus Your Annual Fee
It’s time again to prepare for sending us your end-of-year information about your provider unit. You will
recall that you received a spreadsheet for tracking of your continuing education activities when you
attended provider update this past spring. Hopefully, you have used that tool to record your activities as
they have happened. If you haven’t kept it up-to-date, this would be a good time for you to being
entering that data. We will be sending an official notice with an invoice for your $100 annual fee. Your
data, reflective of all of your 2012 activities, is due to MNA electronically by 1/31/13. We in turn will
provide this information to ANCC in our annual report.
The audit item for this year will consist of a sample certificate that you’ve used for one of your learning
activities. Please do not send this now – we will include that official request along with the request for
your spreadsheet information. We are required to do periodic monitoring to ensure that all approved
providers are operating in adherence to accreditation criteria, so this year we will be looking to ensure
Montana Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of continuing nursing education by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
4
that all certificate have correct information on them and reflect the appropriate approved provider
language. We will review the sample you submit and provide individual feedback.
Planning for the 2013 Provider Update Sessions
What topics would you like to have included in the May provider update? We are beginning to work on
the schedule for the update and want to be sure we include the things that are most important to you.
Let us know what topic(s) you want to be sure we address. Additionally, we would like to allot time for
sharing of best practices that you are implementing in your provider units. If you have something you
would like to share, please let Kathy know.
Happy Holidays
Thank you so much for your dedication and commitment to quality continuing education in your
provider units! The work that you do significantly benefits your nurse learners, which, in turn, enhances
their ability to provide quality care. We appreciate all that you do and want to take this opportunity to
say a very special thank you. We hope you and your families have a wonderful holiday season!
Pam and Kathy
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.
5
Montana Nurses Association is accredited as an approver of continuing nursing education by the
American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.