Quality continuing education: focusing on the principles.

Sometimes we get so caught up in filling out forms or answering specific questions that we forget about the basic principles that guide development and implementation of quality educational activities. This column addresses principles that inform our thinking and decision making.

Developing a learner-directed, learner-paced activity.

The American Nurses Credentialing Center Primary Accreditation Program manual has for many years included the concept of learner-directed, learner-paced activities. However, due to many logistical challenges, this type of activity has not been implemented. In 2014, one organization successfully piloted the process. The methodology for developing this type of activity is explained in this article.

Disclosures: what and why.

Before beginning a continuing nursing education activity, learners are entitled to receive certain information about the learning experience. This column describes those disclosures and discusses their importance.

Needs assessment: collecting the evidence.

How nurse planners collect needs assessment data has an impact on the success of educational activities. Instead of traditional approaches, such as an annual needs assessment, the focus needs to shift to the desired outcomes of the activity and the evidence that exists to demonstrate learner need.

Marketing coprovided activities.

Coproviding is a wonderful way for two or more organizations to work together to provide continuing nursing education. To be transparent to the learners, marketing materials identify the parties involved and prominently note the name of the organization accountable for developing the activity and awarding the contact hours.

Developing an interprofessional continuing education symposium for health care educators in Qatar.

An international interprofessional continuing education symposium was developed and implemented by a global faculty team in Qatar in March 2014. This symposium was undertaken as part of the country's goal of improving the quality of health care. After an extensive planning process, health care educators engaged in multiple types of learning experiences to enrich their knowledge and skills. Evaluation data support the value of this experience.

Making your voice heard: sharing outcomes of continuing nursing education.

Continuing education providers are expected to evaluate the outcomes of learning activities. Professional standards also address the expectation that those outcomes will be shared with others to validate the significance of continuing education and the role of the nursing professional development specialist.

Assuring content integrity.

It is important to assure that content integrity is maintained for the educational activities you provide. This column addresses the key components of content integrity and how to be sure they are implemented in your planning process.

Evaluating continuing education: options abound.

Many providers of continuing education activities perceive that there is a required evaluation form that must be completed by learners at the end of the learning activity. Although this is one approach to collecting evaluation data, it is by no means the only way. This column suggests several strategies that can be used to evaluate learning activities.

More on gap analysis.

Continuing education providers continue to struggle with the concept of gap analysis, a required component of the needs assessment process in the American Nurses Credentialing Center accreditation program. This column offers information on identifying a gap and examples of how this fits into the planning process.

Rocking the boat: challenges ahead for continuing education providers.

Recent evidence has provided a clear mandate for change in the way that registered nurses are educated-in both academic and continuing nursing education environments. This article explores strategies for changing the usual and customary approaches to better meet the needs of learners and prepare them to function effectively in a complex and challenging health care environment.

Credentialing: understanding the terms.

Credentialing is an umbrella term that encompasses several categories, many of which have an impact when considering professional development for registered nurses. This column identifies select categories within the credentialing domain.

What is a gap and how do I fill it?

Planning educational activities for continuing nursing education(CNE) is focused on developing learning experiences that "fill the gap" between where the learner is and where he or she needs to be. This column explores needs assessment and gap analysis processes that guide planning, implementation, and evaluation of CNE activities.

Purpose, objectives, and outcome: tying the pieces together.

The fundamental intent of continuing nursing education is to improve the professional practice of nursing and the care provided to patients. Using a thoughtful process for developing a purpose and objectives for an activity and identifying the desired outcome(s) helps to ensure that the learning activity will be valuable for learners and achieve desired results.

Engaging families in the child welfare process utilizing the Family-Directed Structural Assesment Tool.

Effectively engaging parents in the provision of child welfare services is a crucial component of the helping process; however, it has proven to be an ongoing challenge for workers in this service area. The literature indicates that outcomes are improved for children and families when parents are actively involved in service provision. This article presents a literature review specific to parental engagement in child welfare services, identifies gaps in service provision, and introduces the Family-Directed Structural Assessment Tool, which addresses several challenges of engaging parents in this process. The pilot utilization of this assessment tool by two Bachelor of Social Work students is also presented. Finally, implications for child welfare practice are described.

Evaluating an activity: beyond the "form".

Activity evaluation has often focused on the "evaluation form." Other strategies for activity evaluation open the door to focus on knowledge gained and application of learning in practice. The outcome of the learning activity can then be more accurately determined.

Providing and approving: what's the difference?

The American Nurses Credentialing Center Accreditation Program accredits both providers and approvers of continuing nursing education. At times, there has been confusion about the differences between providers and approvers and the role of each. This column explains those differences.

Co-providing: understanding the logistics.

Continuing nursing education providers have sometimes said that they don't want to co-provide because "it's too much trouble" or they "won't be able to control what happens" or because they don't understand the process. This column clarifies the logistics of the co-provider relationship.

Is this continuing education?

Several recent columns have addressed common challenges for provider units. This column focuses on another common challenge-how to determine whether a proposed learning activity is continuing nursing education. Case studies provide an opportunity to examine factors in making this decision.

Case studies in co-providing.

This column addresses a common challenge for provider units-how to work with another group to plan, implement, and evaluate continuing nursing education activities. Case studies provide an opportunity to examine various challenges in co-providing.