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Download Individual Educational Activities Nurse Planner Document

Professional Practice Gap (defined by ANCC)

The process of planning begins with identifying when CNE or IPCE might be a desired intervention to address a change that has been made to a standard of care, a problem that exists in practice, or an opportunity for improvement. Once an educational intervention is determined to be appropriate, a Nurse Planner is engaged to begin the planning process.

The Nurse Planner starts by analyzing data that validate the need for the educational activity. This analysis forms the basis of a professional practice gap or the difference between the current state of practice and the desired state of practice. It is important to note that a professional practice gap may exist for registered nurses or health care teams, regardless of the practice setting. Professional practice gaps are not limited to clinical practice and may also exist in areas of professional work such as administration, education, and research.

Planning Committee (defined by ANCC)

Once the professional practice gap is identified, the Nurse Planner can begin to select individuals to assist with planning the educational activity by forming a Planning Committee, or the Nurse Planner may participate as a member of an interprofessional planning team. The Planning Committee must include at least two people: the Nurse Planner and a content expert. The Nurse Planner may function as both the Nurse Planner and the content expert; however, two people must be involved with planning each educational activity. Other individuals may be selected, as appropriate, to help plan the activity. The Nurse Planner ensures that the educational activity is developed in compliance with ANCC accreditation criteria.

Planning continues with further analysis of the professional practice gap. The Nurse Planner and Planning Committee evaluate the root causes of the gap, or why the gap exists. If the gap is related to a lack of knowledge, skills, and/or practices of registered nurses, an educational intervention is appropriate. The gap may exist for other reasons, however, and alternative, noneducational strategies may need to be considered.

Survey results and requests; literature review; evaluation results; requests; and outcome or quality data.

Download File Requirements For Activities

Learning Outcome(s) (defined by ANCC)

The Nurse Planner and Planning Committee then develop the desired learning outcome for participants in the target audience. A learning outcome is written as a statement that reflects what the learner will be able to do as a result of participating in the educational activity. The learning outcome must be observable and measurable. The outcome addresses the educational needs (knowledge, skills, and/or practices) that contribute to the professional practice gap, and achieving the learning outcome results in narrowing or closing the gap. A learning outcome may be assessed over the short term or long term. There may be more than one learning outcome for an educational activity.

Content for Educational Activity (defined by ANCC)

Content for the educational activity may be chosen by the Nurse Planner and Planning Committee, or it may be selected by others participating in the educational activity, such as individual speakers or authors. It is the responsibility of the Nurse Planner and Planning Committee to ensure that content is based on the most current evidence, which may include but is not limited to evidence- based practice, literature/peer-reviewed journals, clinical guidelines, best practices, and content experts’ opinion. If there is concern that content selected is not based on best available evidence or may be biased within the educational activity, the Nurse Planner and Planning Committee may choose to engage a content reviewer. The purpose of a content reviewer is to provide independent and expert evaluation of content to ensure best available evidence is presented, the content is balanced, and the content is not promotional or biased. Content that has previously been developed may also be identified as appropriate to include within the educational activity. If previously developed content is incorporated, the Nurse Planner is responsible for ensuring the content meets the criteria for best available evidence and is appropriate in relation to the identified practice gap, and that permission to use the content has been obtained as applicable.

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