Roles and Responsibilities

Role of the CE Developer

The CE Developer is usually the education developer within a CDC center, institute, or office (CIO) or a CDC-funded organization who serves as the primary point of contact between the organization requesting CE and CDC.

The Education Developer will also:

• Review and sign the "Responsibility Agreement and Continuing Education Timeline" which outlines deadlines for the educational activity.
• Attend an orientation with the assigned CDC CE Consultant
• Establish a planning committee.
• Provide completed CE proposal documents by the agreed upon deadlines.
• Maintain contact with all confirmed planners and presenters to get required documents from each of them.
• Defer to the CDC CE Consultant to clarify issues or uncertainties with the CE proposal documents.
• Notify the CDC CE Consultant of any changes in the CE process or educational activity title, date, or time.
• Ensure CE activity is accurately listed in CDC TRAIN.

The CE Developer should have knowledge of:

• The educational activity purpose and content
• Adult learning principles
• Educational principles:
  • Assessing training needs
  • Analyzing gaps in knowledge, skills, or practice
  • Writing SMART learning objectives
  • Writing goal statements
  • Planning and implementing learning activities
  • Evaluating outcomes

Forming a Planning Committee

The Education Developer must identify a group of experts that represent the activity's intended audience. This group must include a representative for each of continuing education (CE). This committee will help design and implement the educational activity. CDC can help determine which roles to include on the planning committee.

Role of Nurse Planner

CDC assigns a Nurse Planner from CDC's CE Accreditation Team to the program requesting CE for a specific educational activity. The assigned nurse planner will provide feedback during the proposal process to help ensure the proposal meets accreditation requirements. The nurse planner is a registered nurse with an active license.

Programs seeking Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) are encouraged to identify an additional nurse with an active license to serve as a planning committee member, a presenter, or subject matter expert on the content.

Primary Responsibilities

• Provide relevant insight on educational needs, intended audience, and learning assessments for each CNE activity.
• Assure educational activities are planned according to current American Nurse Credentialing Center (ANCC) criteria, policies, and procedures, including the following:
  • Identifying and addressing a professional practice gap.
  • Identifying one or more learning outcomes.
  • Using strategies to engage the learners in the educational activity.
  • Ensuring content is based on the most current evidence (may include, but is not limited to evidence-based practice, literature review, clinical guidelines, best practices).
  • Confirming that learning outcomes are evaluated appropriately.
  • Planning independently, without influence of commercial interest organizations.

The nurse planner is familiar with:

• Adult learning principles.
• ANCC and Joint Accreditation continuing education requirements.

Role of Pharmacy Planner

The pharmacy planner is a necessary member of the planning committee for Continuing Pharmacy Education (CPE) requests. They should be a registered pharmacist with an active license.

Primary Responsibilities

• Serve as the pharmacy subject matter expert on the planning committee, providing relevant insight on educational needs, intended audience, and learning assessments for each CPE activity.
• Review content and objectives to ensure compliance with Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) continuing education requirements.
• Review the Educational Planning Tool for sufficient pharmacy content.
  • Assure educational activities are planned according to current ACPE criteria, policies, and procedures.
  • Assure the learning material being presented is appropriate for pharmacists.

The Pharmacy Planner should be familiar with:

• Adult learning principles.
• The Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education (CAPE) objectives and educational outcomes.
• ACPE continuing education requirements.

Role of the CHES/MCHES Planner

The Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES®) /Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES®) Planner is a necessary part of the planning committee when requesting CHES®/MCHES® continuing education.

Primary Responsibilities

• Have knowledge about:
  • Assess training needs.
  • Analyze gaps in knowledge, skill, or practice.
  • Plan and implement learning activities.
  • Evaluate outcomes.
• Assign the appropriate competencies and/or sub-competencies from the NCHEC eight areas of responsibility.
• Serve as a liaison between the NCHEC and the planning committee.
• Review the educational activity, assess objectives and content, and assign competencies/sub-competencies.
• Assure educational activities are planned according to current NCHEC criteria, policies, and procedures.
• Assure the learning material being presented is appropriate for the target audience identified.
• Assure adult learning principles are considered in the educational activity planning process.