Target Audience
Q. Should a certificate be given to all participants attending a NCPD activity even if all of the participants are not RNs?
A. If the provider chooses to do so, certificates verifying completion of the activity and the number of contact hours awarded can be given to all participants who meet the criteria for successful completion, whether the participants are RNs or individuals from other professions. Participants should be aware that the contact hours are specific to Registered Nurses and those other professions such as nursing home administration or speech pathology may or may not recognize the contact hours approved by the Midwest MSD or awarded by a Midwest MSD Approved Provider.
Q. A program we are planning will have a mixed target population: Registered Nurses, physicians, social workers, and hospital administrators. How do we address the target population for this program?
A. In the October 2013 Directors’ Update ANCC discussed the importance of interprofessional continuing education (IPE). “When planning interprofessional educational activities, the planning process must integrate members of the professions for which continuing education credit will be awarded. An interprofessional planning process is not a parallel planning process, i.e., each profession evaluating needs for and planning educational activities that happen to take place at the same time. Additionally, an interprofessional activity is not defined by members of professions who happen to attend or participate in an educational activity.
To be classified as an interprofessional educational activity, the planning process must 1) be an integrated process that includes health care professionals from two or more professions; 2) be an integrated process that includes health care professionals who are reflective of the target audience members the activity is designed to address; 3) demonstrate an intent to achieve outcome(s) that reflect a change in skills, strategy or performance of the health care team and/or patient outcomes; and 4) reflect of one or more of the interprofessional competencies to include: values/ethics, roles/responsibilities, interprofessional communication, and/or teams/teamwork.
When planning interprofessional continuing education activities, planners must assess and document the professional practice gaps of the members (professions) of the healthcare team, and design educational activities to address those gaps. It is important to note that planners should not assess the needs of one profession then extrapolate those needs to another profession without clear evidence that the needs are similar.”