Continuing Education Credit

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.

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.

1. 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
2. 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.