The UNMC College of Medicine’s Center for Continuing Education and UNMC College of Nursing’s Continuing interProfessional Development and Innovation have secured joint reaccreditation – adding an exclusive and prestigious commendation behind their continuing education efforts.
The accreditation review came from the Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education, which is a collaboration of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education and the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Accreditation Program.
“This is a prestigious designation for the continuing education departments of the colleges of medicine and nursing of UNMC,” said Brenda Ram, director of educational programs with the UNMC Center for Continuing Education. “We congratulate everyone involved in the work to achieve this reaccreditation and thank everyone who brings the highest level of continuing education to the health care professionals at UNMC.”
Said Heidi Keeler, PhD, director of UNMC Continuing interProfessional Development and Innovation, “Our CiPDI and Center for Continuing Education offices are driving toward revolutionary ways to deliver new information to our busy practitioners. Commendation is a symbol of how hard we’ve worked to do this and sets our sights higher to achieve strategic excellence for UNMC’s continuing professional development capacity in the future.”
Nationally, only 34 organizations hold joint accreditation with commendation, and UNMC is the only jointly accredited provider in Nebraska with commendation. UNMC offered the fifth-largest number of activities by a jointly accredited provider with commendation as of 2023.
Joint accreditation establishes the standards for education providers to deliver interprofessional continuing education so health care professionals can develop their skills, remain credentialed and achieve better patient outcomes.
Dr. Keeler said it allows continuing education credits for physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, while also offering the ability to add other professions.
After initially achieving joint accreditation in December 2020, UNMC’s continuing education leaders set out to achieve reaccreditation with commendation by meeting a series of additional criteria.
Leading UNMC’s effort were Dr. Keeler, Ram, Renee Paulin, assistant director of Continuing interProfessional Development and Innovation, and Lisa Bally, director of finance and operation for the UNMC Center for Continuing Education, along with the team members of each office.
Dr. Keeler said the achievement signifies that UNMC’s continuing education offices demonstrate expertise in educational design and delivery, strategic use of partnerships and collecting data, testing of new ways to teach practicing clinicians and demonstrating team and patient impact.