Continuing Education Application

Training Guide
Non-Chapter

AACN Program Approval Department

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Beginning the Online Application Process Pg. 3

Reviewing Important Documents: Policy Handbook, Resources and FAQs Pg. 4

Completing the Online Application Pg. 5

Organization Contact Information Pg. 6

Basic Program Information Pg. 7

Educational Design Process Pg. 8

Planning Your Program Pg. 8

Selecting Presenters: Ensuring Independence and Content Integrity Pg. 9

Individual Presentation/Content Form Pg. 11

Payment and Application Status Pg. 12

Printing Certificate of Attendance Pg. 13

Post Learning Activity Report Pg. 14

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Beginning the Online Application Process

Hello and welcome to the training guide for the online application for CE contact hours for educational activities. AACN is
an accredited approver of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s (ANCC)
Commission on Accreditation.
Entering the Website
Enter the AACN website via www.aacn.org and sign-in with your email/customer ID and password.

Once logged in, you will be on the home page and will need to select Education, on the top left corner of the page. A new
selection will appear, with your results. From this screen select, Overview.

Scull down the page and look for Program Approval section and click on Learn More.

From this screen you will choose your organization type, which will be AACN Chapter.

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Reviewing Important Documents: Policy Handbook, Resources and FAQs

On the AACN Chapter Page you will see 3 boxes: Continuing Education Policy/Resources/Frequently Asked Questions

Continuing Education Policy

Click on Continuing Education Policy box to review the Continuing Education Policy Handbook for Individual Activity
Applicants before you continue on with your application. We recommend that you read this handbook as it will provide
information on the ANCC requirements for Individual Activity Applicants.

Resources
Under Resources, you will see the additional documents which will be helpful to you during your program planning and
execution.

ANCC Content Integrity Standards: These standards, published by ANCC serve as a resource for providers to plan,
implement and evaluate educational activities with integrity, free from undue influence of commercial interest
organizations.

ANCC Guidelines for Pharmacotherapeutic Credit: This reference will assist Nurse Planners in calculating and awarding
contact hours for content that meets criteria for pharmacotherapeutic credit.

CE Certificate Template*: If you choose to use your own certificate, all required components must be on your certificate.

CERP Certificate Template: Continuing Education Recognition Points is a designation developed by AACN Certification
Corporation for certification renewal. CERPs can be awarded for those educational activities that are not eligible for
continuing education contact hours (examples include product in-services or presentations).

Commercial Support Agreement: If financial or in-kind contributions given by a commercial interest are used to pay for all
or part of the costs of a CNE activity, this agreement needs to be completed and uploaded with the application.

Conflict of Interest Form: Nurse Planner, Content Expert (Planning Committee Members), and all Presenters must
complete this form and disclose any Conflict of Interest. Every form must be reviewed and resolved by the Nurse Planner
for every educational activity.
A conflict of interest (COI) exists when an individual is in a position to control or influence the content of a CE activity and
has a financial relationship with a commercial interest, the products services of which are pertinent to the content of the
educational activity.

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Evidence of Required Information Provided to Learners Checklist*: Reviews the disclosure requirements of each
program. To be reviewed by the Nurse Planner during the program presentation, signed, and returned as part of the Post
Learning Activity Report.

Fees for Individual Activity Applicant - Chapter: This is a supplement to the Continuing Education Policy, the fees are
based on the number of contact hours.

Post Learning Activity Summary: To be completed, signed by the Nurse Planner and returned as part of the Post Learning
Activity Report.

Synergy CERPs Brochure: Continuing Education Recognition Points is a designation developed by AACN Certification
Corporation for certification renewal. CERPs can be awarded for those educational activities that are not eligible for
continuing education contact hours (examples include product in-services or presentations). As the Nurse Planner, you will
find this brochure useful in assigning A, B, or C Synergy CERP categories to your CE activities as well.

*For programs presented in California, the California version of the CE certificate template and Evidence of Required
Information Provided to Learners Checklist are to be used.

Frequently Asked Questions

Visit the FAQ page if you have questions about Program Approval for your chapter.
Completing the Online Application
Once you are familiar with the Continuing Education Policy Handbook, make sure that you have the following information
handy before you start the individual activity applicant application:

Scroll down the page and then click on “Getting Started”.

To ensure a successful submission experience, please follow the steps below prior to starting your online program
approval application.

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Next you will be asked to answer these questions to determine Applicant Eligibility:

Scroll down the Getting Started page and click on “Start Application” which will take you to the first page of the
application.
Organization Contact Information
Contact Person
Complete this section by providing your contact information.

Organization Information
Complete this section by selecting from the dropdown list. Once you select your organization, the address and contact
info will auto fill with the chapter president’s information.

If you are unable to find your chapter or the information is incorrect, please email program approval at
Programapproval@aacn.org

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Nurse Planner
Complete this section by answering the question. Remember, the Nurse Planner needs to have a current unencumbered
license and a Baccalaureate degree or higher in nursing to be eligible.

To continue to the next section click Save and Continue

Basic Program Information
Basic Program Information
Enter the Basic Program Information as requested. Program start date must be a minimum of 20 business days from
the date a complete application is submitted with payment.

Make sure to check off the first box, the first RUSH statement acknowledging a rush fee will be applied if the
start date of your program is less than 20 days.

The second box, is for applicants who would like to add an optional rush service to their application that has a
program start date greater than 20 business days.

If your program is 3.0 contact hours or greater an agenda is required.

To continue to the next section click Save and Continue

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Educational Design Process

Needs Assessment
This section of the application is very important as it frames the overall focus of your educational activity. Please take
your time and be thoughtful in completing the information.

Target Audience: Indicate whether program is for all RNs, Advance Practice RNs, or a specialty group such as managers,
educators (list under other).

Professional Practice Gap: Complete the Describe Current State, Desired State and Identified Gap information specific to
your particular program. When developing a gap analysis, it is essential to look at the difference between desired and
current states to figure out what is the primary issue.
Examples:
Describe the current state: The critical care nurses attending this program have a variety of experience level and
backgrounds. They are working in ICU and progressive care setting and are deficient in knowledge regarding the
current trends and research around various critical care topics.
Describe the desired state: After the educational program, nurses and other attendees will verbalize an increase in
their understanding of critical care topics presented (can place a specific topic here), and state they intend to change
their practice.
Identified gap: Nurses have documented on previous evaluations that they would like additional information on the
care of patients with various cardiac and metabolic diseases.

Educational need that underlies the professional practice gap (e.g. knowledge, skill and/or practices): Identify the
Educational need that underlies the professional practice gap, knowledge, skills, or practice. Please ensure that whatever
areas you check are reflected in the learning outcome.

Evidence to validate the professional practice gap (check all methods/types of data that apply): Evidence you used to
validate the professional practice gap? How was the need for this topic validated? Select up to three.

Please provide a brief summary of that gathered that validates the need for this activity:
Example:
Every year the organization conducts a Trends Conference and collects evaluative data on the previous conference. This
along with trends in healthcare as evident in the literature, environmental scanning, and/or QI projects helps the
planning committee select appropriate topics for the conference

After completing this section click Save and Continue

Planning Your Program
Learning Outcomes
Desired learning outcome(s) (What will the outcome be as a result of participation in this activity?): What will the
outcome be as a result of participation in this program/activity? It should reflect a statement that is learner-focused and
describes what the learner will be able to demonstrate through observation as a result of participating in the CE. It should
be reflective of the professional practice gap.
Example:
Participants will verbalize an increase in knowledge gained about the ________ disease process affecting the care of
patients on their unit.

Area of Impact (check all that apply): Nursing Professional development, patient outcomes, or other.

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Outcome Measure(s) (A quantitative statement as to how the outcome will be measured): A quantitative statement as
to how the outcome of identified gap will be measured at the conclusion of the program. (For example: Knowledge
measured by post-test, Skills measured by return demo, Practice measured with audits.)
Example:
75% of all participants will rate the knowledge gained as at least a “4” on a scale of 1-5 after completing this
program.
Content and Evaluation of Activity
Desired content and include time calculation for content: A short description that is sufficient for the reviewer to
understand your intent. Include the time calculation for content. Do not list the objectives or provide an outline.
Example:
Dr. X will discuss the history and current research and allow 10 min of questions and answers (60 min).
Dr. Y will present on a new exciting topic and discuss case studies (60 min).
120 min of educational content = 2.0 CE

Content for this education activity was chosen from: It might be an organizational website such as AHRQ, clinical
guidelines, peer reviewed journals, etc. Provide at least TWO references other than presenters/expert resources.

Learner engagement strategies: Important to list the methodology you will be using with your audience.

Criteria for Awarding Contact Hours for live and enduring material activities include (check all that apply): What do
the attendees need to achieve in order to be awarded contact hours?

Description of evaluation method, Evidence that change in knowledge, skills and/or practices of target audience was
assessed: Evidence that change in knowledge, skills and/or practices of target audience was assessed.
Example:
After each conference, the planning committee reviews the program evaluations in order to determine if leaning
has occurred for the target audience. This review assists in planning future educational programs as well as next
year’s conference. Planning committee also looks for participants to acknowledge that a change in practice will
occurred as evidence by the evaluation data.

Short-term evaluation options- How will program be evaluated in the short term?

To continue to the next section click Save and Continue

Selecting Presenters: Ensuring Independence and Content Integrity
Individuals in a Position to Control Content
In the section below you will identify each person in position to control content of the educational activity such as: Nurse
Planner, Content Expert, and Presenters.

To add an individual you will need to click on + Add Individual

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Individuals
When adding an individual you will include name, credentials, educational degree(s), and role on the planning
committee. There must be one Nurse Planner and one Content Expert on the planning committee.

You will also need to upload a Conflict of Interest Form for the Nurse Planner, the Content Expert, and each Presenter.

To make edits to an individual record, simply click on the Pencil icon.

You may also upload multiple documents for your program such as a flyer, brochure, or Commercial Support Agreement, if
applicable. Ensure flyer/brochure includes the proper advertising statement as specified in the Program Approval Policy.

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If advertising is released prior to approval and after an application has been submitted and paid to AACN, the following
statements must be used:
This activity has been submitted to the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses for approval to award contact
hours. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses is accredited as an approver of continuing nursing education by
the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

If the advertising is to be released after approval is received, the following statements must be used:
This continuing nursing education activity was approved by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, an
accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. ANCC Accredited
Approver number A0012. Approval refers to recognition of continuing education only and does not imply AACN or
ANCC approval or endorsement of the content of this educational activity.

To continue to the next section click on Save and Continue

Individual Presentation/Content Form

Individuals in a Position to Control Content
This section is for the individual presentation content topics for your program. You will need to create an individual
presentation for each session. If you are planning a day-long program, make sure that you enter each individual
session/topic, not just the program title.

Each session will consist of: Individual Presentation Title, Individual Presentation Description, List Teaching
methods/learner engagement strategies to be used by presenter(s), Individual Presentation Date, Presentation Start Time,
Presentation End time, Presenter(s) name with credentials.

To add additional sessions/topics simply click on “+ Add Additional Presentation”

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To continue to the next section click on Save and Continue

You must read and accept the terms and conditions for Post Activity Report Information and Statement of
Understanding.

Once all of the presentation sessions are entered and you check the Statements of Understanding, you can click:

Payment and Application Status

Invoice
Invoice page will appear with the options to: Print Invoice and/or Make Payment Online.

Print Invoice: If you select to print invoice and mail in a check payment option, your application will NOT be reviewed
until payment is received by American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and will delay the process.

Make Payment Online: If you select make a payment online, credit card and billing information will be requested. We
prefer this type of payment to insure your process is smooth.

We highly recommend using the email invoice option to ensure you immediately receive a copy of your invoice for a
receipt. Please enter your email address and an invoice will be emailed to you.

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Application Status
Applicants may check on the status of their submitted and paid application by signing in with their customer ID at
www.aacn.org click on the arrow next to your name and from the dropdown list select Submissions.

To view the application submitted click on “Details”. You may also print a copy of your invoice by clicking on “Print
Invoice”.

If you wish to review and print out your application for your records, click on “Details”. Place your cursor at the
bottom of the application and you will see the options below to either save or print your application.

Printing Certificate of Attendance

Printing Certificate of Attendance
Applicants may print a pre-filled Certificate of Attendance (CE Certificate) for their approved program by signing in
with their customer ID at www.aacn.org click on the arrow next to your name and from the dropdown list select
Submissions.

To view the certificate click on “Print CE Certificate”

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Post Learning Activity Report

Uploading Post Learning Activity Report
Start by signing in with their customer ID at www.aacn.org click on the arrow next to your name and from the
dropdown list select Submissions.

Click “Post Activity Report”

Upload each document, and click “Submit Document” after each. When uploading your last document, be sure to
select the “All Post Activity Documents Have Been Uploaded” Checkbox

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