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Continuing Education Philosophy
The Indiana State Nurses Association is the voluntary professional association for registered nurses in this State. Membership is an individual responsibility and reflects a commitment to a belief that:
1. Nursing is a humanistic, socially essential service which is instrumental in providing quality health care to all people;
2. The Association can contribute to the provision of quality nursing care by facilitating professional growth;
3. Registered nurses benefit from an Association which promotes the individual's social, educational, political, and economic development and/or advancement;
4. The promotion of professional growth through a variety of Association activities is important to facilitate the advancement of nursing as a profession;
5. Nurse participation in ISNA approved continuing nursing education benefits the individual and the recipient of care.
Philosophy, Purpose, And Goals For Approver Unit
Philosophy
The Committee on Approval is an integral part of the Indiana State Nurses Association and, as such, adheres to the philosophy of the Indiana State Nurses Association about the profession, the nature of nursing, and the importance of quality continuing education for nurses. In addition, the Committee adheres to the American Nurses Association definition of nursing from the Nursing Policy Statement: "Nursing is the diagnosis and treatment of human responses to actual or potential health problems."
Today's contemporary world is in an unrelenting, constant process of change. To respond effectively to the demands of change, the nursing profession believes that learning needs to be a continuous process throughout the lifespan. Learning is individual and diversified for each person. As such, the professional organization must recognize and respond to a commitment to registered nurses as unique persons, as individual learners, and as citizens.
Individual nurses are responsible for their own learning and should participate in the identification of their own learning needs to meet these identified needs. Providers of continuing nursing education must have a commitment to involve learners in the learning process from the initial stages of planning through the evaluation of organized learning experiences.
Continuing nursing education should be provided in a well-planned, organized educational environment. Strong support and leadership is expected from all groups providing continuing education. Continuing nursing education should assist individual practitioners in the continued acquisition of knowledge, the extension of professional responsibilities, the expansion of interpersonal skills, and the improvement of problem solving approaches to professional practice.
Continuing nursing education should serve as a viable means of improving the professional competence of the practitioner with the outcome of improved health care. Continuing nursing education also should include such important concerns as: the realization of the health potential of each individual, the quality of life, and the understanding of the current health problems of modern society.
Through its role as an approval body for continuing nursing education, the Indiana State Nurses Association should promote quality continuing nursing education for its membership as well as for the profession. This assurance of quality is needed to provide the citizens of Indiana with nursing practitioners who are accountable for developing, implementing and maintaining standards of nursing practice.
Purpose
The purpose of the approver unit is to provide for a system of peer review of continuing education events by applying the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation approved criteria for continuing education activities and providers and to provide for maintenance of records regarding the system of peer review.
Goals
1. Provide a system of approval of continuing nursing education in the State of Indiana for activities and for providers.
2. Maintain American Nurses Credentialing Center accreditation as an approver of continuing nursing education.
3. Publish a calendar of ISNA approved continuing education events.
4. Evaluate the effectiveness of the approval unit's activities.
5. Assess the need, availability, and accessibility of quality continuing education opportunities for nurses.
6. Utilize the American Nurses Association's Scope and Standards of Practice for Nursing Professional Development as a means for assuring the quality of continuing nursing education.
7. Maintain a mechanism for identification and resolution of problems and issues related to continuing education in nursing.
8. Maintain appropriate communication with membership of state regulatory agencies who have an impact on continuing education in nursing.
9. Maintain contact with providers and inform them of ANCC updates.
10. Conduct inter-rater reliability evaluation at least biennially.
11. Utilize evaluation data to improve the approval process.
12. Provide orientation session for new members of the ISNA Committee on Approval each year. |
