HSHS/Prairie Education and Research Cooperative, Department of Continuing Education is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Continuing Nursing Education (CNE)
Receive CNE's with PERC
CNE is designed to improve the professional practice of nursing and to positively impact patient, system, and/or population outcomes. CNE is defined as “learning activities intended to build upon the educational and experiential bases of the professional RN for the enhancement of practice, education, administration, research, or theory development, to the end of improving the health of the public and RNs’ pursuit of their professional career goals.”
Within an accreditation framework, the following principles of high-quality educational design are employed:
- Addresses a professional practice gap (change in standard of care, problem in practice, or opportunity for improvement);
- Incorporates the active involvement of a Nurse Planner in the planning process;
- Analyzes educational needs (knowledge, skills, and/or practices) of registered nurses and/or health care team members that underlie the problem or opportunity (why the problem or opportunity exists);
- Identifies one or more learning outcomes to be achieved by learners participating in the activity;
- Uses strategies that engage the learner in the educational activity and are congruent with the educational needs and desired learning outcomes;
- Chooses content based on evidence-based practice or best available evidence;
- Evaluates achievement of learning outcomes; and
- Plans independently from the influence of commercial interest organizations.
Our CNE Process
Step 1: Notify a Nurse Planner that you are planning an event/series and are requesting CNE: If you are unsure who your local Nurse Planner is, please feel free to reach out to the HSHS/PERC Continuing Education Department team by either emailing us at PERC-CME@hshs.org or by calling us at (217)492-9100 ext. 29113. Please provide the Nurse Planner with any details specific to the event/series as applicable at the time of contact. We understand that these things take time to plan, so we know that all the information may not be readily available but as soon as it is, we would love to know and document for CE.
**Please note that you must include a Nurse Planner in the initial planning phases of your activity, to be able to provide CE.
Step 2: Work with a local Nurse Planner to complete the CE Planning Form: The Nurse Planner will complete the online CE Planning Form, including, but not limited to, identifying the practice gap and need for this event/series (needs data). Once done, the Nurse Planner will submit the CE Planning Form online, and the Lead Nurse Planner will review/approve.
Step 3: Conflict of Interest (COI) Form: The conflict of interest (COI) form is another requirement of CNE, although it is separate from the planning form. The COI form will need to be completed by anyone who is involved with presenting or planning information, for the event. The COI Form is CNE’s way of documenting commercial bias (if any) of the presenters and planners. CNE Educational Programs must be free from commercial bias, per the ANCC (our accrediting body). All presenters and planners will be able to submit their online applications through our CNE software. Once these individuals are added to your planning form, an email will be sent to them prompting them to login and fill out their COI. In addition to the completed COI Form, the CNE staff will also request a CV/Bio for each presenter/planner.
How to Submit a COI Form:
The following document will give you a step by step guide on how to submit a COI form in our online CME software.
Click here to sign in or create an account to complete your COI form.
Information for CNE Participants
All CME credits and activities are tracked through our online CME software which can be accessed here.
Live activities include conferences, courses, seminars and workshops that are presented on one or multiple different days. Some of these activities require pre-registration. View our current list of live activities you can register for.
An enduring material is defined by the ACCME as “a printed, recorded, or computer-presented activity that may be used over time at various locations and which, in itself, constitutes a planned activity”. View our current list of enduring materials.
A regularly scheduled series (RSS) is a CME activity that happens on a regular schedule with multiple different sessions throughout the year. These sessions can happen on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis. Examples of an RSS are grand rounds, case conferences, morbidity and mortality conference and tumor boards.
The following documents will help you as a participant of our CME activities.