Applications submitted 30 days or less prior to the start of the educational activity will be reviewed by the Chairperson of the Education Approver Committee (or designee) and will only be accepted for review and assigned to an Education Approver Team at the discretion of the Education Approver Chairperson or designee.
PLEASE NOTE: As of JULY 2008, all applications must be submitted electronically. The applicant will be notified that the application has been received and that it has been assigned an ASPAN Approver Number. This number will be used throughout the review and approval process.
Once the complete copy of the electronic application has been received at the ASPAN National Office:
First: The application will be checked by the ASPAN Education Approver Support Staff to determine that the application is complete. If the application does not contain all required materials for review, the applicant will be contacted to submit the missing information. Handwritten forms will be returned to the applicant. The application will be returned if grossly incomplete.
Second: If all required information is present, an Education Approver Review Team will be chosen and copies of the application will be sent to them for review. Both members of the team will review the application utilizing the design criteria established by ANCC-COA.
Third: The team member will send feedback regarding the application to the team leader. The team leader will work directly with the applicant to correct any deficiencies noted in the application by either the team leader or team member. Deficiencies must be corrected prior to the presentation of the educational activity. Contact hours cannot be awarded retroactively.
Fourth: Once the application meets the requirements for contact hours, the team leader will notify the ASPAN National Office that the application has been approved, and the applicant will be notified by e-mail and by letter.
Please Note:
If the requirements for contact hours are not met prior to the date of the educational activity, contact hours will be denied. The team leader will notify the ASPAN National Office and the applicant will be notified by certified mail that the contact hours have been denied. The applicant may withdraw the application at any time during the review process, but the application fee will not be refunded. (In the event of a disagreement between the team members regarding the final dispensation of an application, the Chairperson of the Education Approver Committee will make the final decision.)
Failure to follow ANCC-COA operational requirements after the application has been approved may result in revocation of contact hours awarded; e.g. changing faculty or altering objectives or content and not notifying or resubmitting the information to ASPAN before the program is presented.
A contact hour is 60 minutes of an organized learning activity, which is either a didactic or clinical experience. Provider Directed Provider Paced or Provider Directed Learner Paced educational activities must be a minimum of one contact hour. After the first contact hour is approved, partial credit may be awarded. For example, 195 minutes of presentation equals 3.25 contact hours. Registration, meals, breaks, business meetings and other non-learning events (i.e. exhibitors, questions and answer periods or evaluation times) are not included when calculating contact hours.
The applicant may appeal directly to the Education Approver Committee chairperson any denial or revocation of contact hours. This appeal must be in writing and postmarked within 15 days of the denial or revocation notification. This letter must include the rationale and justification for the appeal. The Education Approver Committee chairperson will utilize the Appeal Process Policy.
An Appeals Committee, consisting of three members (who are not members of the Education Approver Committee but have an awareness of the Approver process) will be appointed to review the letter of appeal along with the original application. The President and Board of Directors will appoint the three members of the Appeals Committee to work with the Approver Chairperson at such time an Appeals Committee is needed.
Criteria for members of the Appeals Committee will include:
- Appointment at such time when an applicant makes an appeal
- Knowledgeable of the Education Approver process
- Member or past member of the Board of Directors or Past Education Approver Chairperson
- Appointed members by the President/Board of Directors
The decision of the Appeals Committee will be based on the original application as it is on file at the ASPAN National Office. Revisions or additions to this application may not be made during the appeals process. The majority of the Appeals Committee will make the appeal decision. Applicants will be notified in writing of the appeal decision.
Within 30 days of the presentation of the educational activity the RN identified as being administratively responsible for the activity must send to the ASPAN National Office the following:
- The title of the educational activity and the ASPAN number of the activity, along with the date(s) the approved program was presented.
- A summary of the participants’ evaluations of the activity.
- A complete list of the names and addresses of the attendees along with the number of contact hours awarded to each.
- A copy of the completed Certificate of Attendance.
- A copy of any handouts distributed.
Since the approval for contact hours is good for two years and the educational activity may be presented a number of times during the two-year period, the above information is to be submitted to ASPAN each time the activity is presented.
Failure to submit the documentation required by ANCC-COA operational requirements to the ASPAN National Office within 30 days could result in the revocation of the contact hours awarded.
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