Whether you are an accredited provider such as i3 Health or you are an educational partner working with an accredited provider, it's still important to understand the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) criteria that underlie nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) activities. This is part of a periodic series of posts looking at what each criterion means in general and what it might mean for you.

The first two ANCC criteria focus on the organizational structure of the NCPD provider. Criterion OO1 looks at the big picture, while Criterion OO2 goes into details. We looked at that big picture question in the last post in this series. In this post, we'll discuss those details.

Criterion OO2 focuses on the specific roles held by those who make the program run. Who makes the magic happen? What are their titles? What are their credentials?

This criterion is achieved in two steps. The first requires a list of the individuals who work within the NCPD program. The list should include names, credentials, positions, and titles. All NCPD programs should have at least one person on this list: the Accredited Provider Program Director. A large NCPD program likely has additional Nurse Planners (NP) who help plan activities. A key aspect of NCPD is that it is education by nurses and for nurses. This criterion asks for specific names and credentials to assure that the activities within the program are planned by people who meet this goal.

The second step should be equally simple to achieve. All that it requires are job descriptions for your Accredited Provider Program Director and NP positions. If you don't have an NP position, you can skip that part although it is recommended that you write a description so that you're ready should that change.

Both Organizational Overview criteria should be fairly simple to meet. If you are planning NCPD, you should have all of these pieces in place and just need to describe your organization.

In the next post in this series, we'll start reviewing the criteria that explain what each activity needs to entail.

ANCC Accreditation Criteria Overview

ANCC (2021). Writing to the ANCC NCPD Accreditation Criteria Self-Learning Guide. Available at: https://www.nursingworld.org/~4b0217/globalassets/docs/ancc/manuals/ancc-2784-ncpd-writing-to-the-ancc-criteria-final-v-1.0-9.27.21.pdf

ANCC (2021). ANCC NCPD Accredited Provider Applicant Journey Guide. Available at: https://www.nursingworld.org/~4b0217/globalassets/docs/ancc/manuals/ancc-2530-ncpd-applicant-journey-toolkit-final-v-1.0-9.27.21.pdf 

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