​Amanda Stanisor, Sr. HR Generalist – Team Leader, Offices of Human Resources, Arkansas Department of Health

Since 2010, the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) has been an approved provider of continuing nursing education (CNE) through the Arkansas Nurses Association (ARNA), which is accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation (ANCC). As part of its CNE renewal process in 2013, ADH explored how Arkansas-TRAIN (A-TRAIN), part of the TRAIN learning management network, could better facilitate the provision of CNE.

A-TRAIN enables nurses to conduct detailed searches for on-site workshops, conferences, and web-based courses that offer CNEs and to store transcripts and certificates in one centralized location. By connecting healthcare and public health professionals through shared professional learning and development opportunities, A-TRAIN plays a vital role in bridging healthcare and public health.

In order to streamline and improve the CNE process, ADH’s approved provider unit incorporated a number of changes to enhance the delivery of CNEs through A-TRAIN, including:

• Providing the approved provider statement and steps learners must take to receive credit (required by ANCC) on the TRAIN Course Description page for all CNE courses.
• Requiring completion of an online evaluation on TRAIN before learners are automatically awarded their certificates of completion and CNEs.
• Using the Follow Up Evaluation feature in TRAIN, which prompts learners a set number of days after course completion, to determine how learners have applied knowledge gained from the course in practice. As ANCC requires outcome evaluation related to patient outcomes, TRAIN can collect this information, thus improving the quality of CNE offerings.
• Posting forms for Nurse Planners in a centralized location — the Resources section on TRAIN. With a few clicks, Nurse Planners have access to all the forms, instructions, and other tools related to offering CNEs.
  

Using TRAIN, the nation’s premier learning management network for professionals who protect the public’s health, in the delivery of CNEs has made an immediate impact for ADH. Nurse Planners reduced their workload by accessing documents from a single online location and did not have to compile evaluation results, verify evaluation completions in A-TRAIN, and mail the evaluations to Human Resources for storage. Learners needing CNEs also benefited, as they could access certificates of completion immediately after finishing the required evaluations. Though the changes ADH implemented may seem small, streamlining the process of CNE credit has greatly improved ADH’s capacity to provide evidence-based educational opportunities for nurses across work environments in Arkansas.

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