ASPEN's education programs and resources are designed to support interdisciplinary health care professionals seeking to assess, augment, or confirm their knowledge of clinical nutrition and nutrition support both in clinical practice and research settings. Many of these programs offer continuing education (CE) credit for physicians, dietitians, nurses, and pharmacists.
Programs Offering CE Credit
In support of improving patient care, the American
Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) is jointly accredited by
the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the
Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses
Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare
team.
As a jointly accredited provider, ASPEN provides
continuing education credits to dietitians, nurses, pharmacists, and
physicians.
ASPEN is approved as a provider of continuing nursing
education by the California Board of Nursing, provider number CEP3970.
ASPEN's
continuing education programs also offer AMA PRA Category 1™ Credits.

Claiming CE Credit and CE Transcripts
You can submit for credit and track earned CE credits for ASPEN education programs in ASPEN's eLearning Center. The only exception is the Self-Assessment Program, where the CE credit is tracked within that program
Pharmacist CPE Monitor
CPE Monitor® is a national, collaborative effort by ACPE and the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) to provide an electronic system for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to track their completed continuing pharmacy education (CPE) credits. It offers state boards of pharmacy the opportunity to electronically authenticate the CPE units completed by their licensees, rather than requiring pharmacists and technicians to submit their proof of completion statements upon request or for random audits.
Procedures for Compliance with the CPE Monitor®
- The NABP e-profile is completed by the pharmacist and/or technician via the NABP website. The pharmacist and/or technician will give the NABP e-PID number to ASPEN when registering and/or completing a CPE activity.
- Pharmacists claiming credit with ASPEN can provide their NABP e-PID and birthday (MMDD) each time credit is claimed for an education program. Pharmacists are also encouraged to add this information to their personal profile with ASPEN by logging in to the ASPEN website then clicking your name in the upper right corner to access the "Edit my Profile" option.
- It is the responsibility of the pharmacist to obtain and submit the correct NABP e-PID and birthday (MMDD) to ASPEN. The provider’s responsibility is to provide the information they have received to ACPE in electronic format.
- The pharmacist will also be responsible to assure that the information in their NABP profile is accurate; much like one checks their credit card bills or bank statements online to verify proper records. Pharmacists are encouraged to monitor their NABP profile regularly as discrepancies that are identified shortly after an activity may be able to be resolved. Those that are beyond the 60-day window for reporting may not be resolved.
- ASPEN has set deadlines for the claiming of CE credit on all activities. These deadlines are in place to ensure reporting to the CPE Monitor® is completed per the required timeframe of 60 days after the activity takes place. These deadlines are not flexible. ASPEN reports pharmacists earned credit to the CPE monitor monthly, usually by the 10th day of the month.
Should a pharmacist not claim credit by the set deadline and subsequently, the information is not reported into the CPE Monitor® within the required 60 days, the credit will not appear in the pharmacist’s NABP profile.
It is possible that the ACPE may permit an override for ASPEN to upload credit claimed to the CPE Monitor® after the deadline, however, ACPE sets the rules on the timing of overrides and whether an override request is granted. Override requests greater than 6 months from the activity date will not be granted by ACPE.
ACPE also assesses a $200 fee per override request that is granted. Because it is the responsibility of the pharmacist to claim credit per the posted deadlines to allow ASPEN to submit credit to the CPE Monitor® in a timely manner, ASPEN will require the pharmacist to pay ASPEN this $200 fee prior to ASPEN submitting an override request to upload the credit that was claimed late. Override requests greater than 6 months from the activity date will not be granted by ACPE.
Dietitian Critical Thinking Self-Study Evaluation Tool
By the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR) for all Self-Study Programs Released January 1, 2020 and after.
Background
and Rationale:
The Commission on
Dietetic Registration’s (CDR) Competency Assurance Panel (CAP) has recently
revised its long standing policy requiring that all CPE activities must be
beyond entry level and replaced it with all CPE activities are required to be
relevant to knowledge, skills, behavior and attitudes of professional dietetics
practice.
Across
all professions critical thinking is an essential component of evidence-based
competent practice. CDR has designed the attached critical thinking tool
template to assist CDR credentialed practitioners in reflecting on their new
learning and its application to their practice competency while completing self-study products. This critical thinking tool is intended to be an additional
evaluation and reflective component of a self-study and should not be viewed as
a substitute for any evaluation forms that are currently used by you as product
improvement tools. CDR credentialed practitioners must also retain one copy of
the completed tool for each self-study product completed for their records to
be submitted to CDR if audited. The original is to be submitted to the
self-study provider in order to receive the provider issued certificate of
completion.
Critical thinking can be defined as the objective analysis,
interpretation and evaluation of a topic or issue in order to form a judgment.
Good critical thinking can draw reasonable conclusion from a set of information
and discriminate between useful and less useful details to solve a problem or
make a decision. (1)
Evidence-based
dietetics practice involves the process of asking questions, systematically
finding research evidence, and assessing its validity, applicability, and
importance to food and nutrition practice decisions; and includes applying
relevant evidence in the context of the practice situation and the values of
clients, customers and communities to achieve positive outcomes. (2)
Evidence-based
practice considers the best available evidence and the strength of the
evidence.
This
tool has been created to help the CDR credentialed practitioner utilize
essential critical thinking skills as they apply to evidence-based practice.
- Health
Sciences Reasoning Test with Numeracy (HSRT-N) and the California Critical
Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI). https://www.insightassessment.com/Products/Products-Summary/Critical-Thinking-Attributes-Tests/California-Critical- Thinking-Disposition-Inventory-CCTDI
- The Academy
of Nutrition and Dietetics Quality Management Committee. Definition of terms.
2017.
Process
These questions must be
completed by all CDR credentialed practitioners upon completion of a self-study
CPE product and returned to the provider prior to receiving a certificate of
completion. A copy of this form should also be kept by the CDR credentialed
practitioner. CDR credentialed practitioners must have the form and the
certificate in their files should they ever be audited. Failure to include both
certificate and completed tool will result in a failed audit and loss of the
CPE credit.
Carefully reflect upon the
learning that has occurred as a result of the completion of the self study and
answer the following questions that will be used to assess elements of
essential critical thinking. Responses should be written in complete sentences
and where appropriate refer to the relevant section of the self- study
material.
If you are not currently practicing,
please reflect on your past or future practice.
ASPEN’s
Implementation
Within
programs designated as self-study, ASPEN will require CDR credentialed
practitioners to complete the additional questions included in the Critical
Thinking Evaluation Tool for Self-Study Programs
as part of the program evaluation process.
This process is completed prior to documentation of any earned credit
being provided. To maintain a copy of
responses submitted, CDR credentialed practitioners should print a hard copy or
electronic copy of the responses prior to submission (once submitted, there is
not a way to retrieve the information).
An alternative would be for the practitioner to print the Critical
Thinking Evaluation Tool for Self-Study Programs
and complete it with the same responses that were submitted to ASPEN during the
program evaluation process and maintain a copy along with documentation of
earned credit.