Home > Education > CE Approval Process

Continuing Education Approval Process

Continuing education activities for registered nurses (RNs) may be submitted to AORN's Continuing Education Approval Committee (CEAC) for approval of contact hours. This requires:

Content classified as continuing education for nurses
A completed CE Approval Application
Submission of the appropriate fee

Each application for approval of contact hours submitted to the AORN Approval Unit is reviewed by members of the Continuing Education Approval Committee (CEAC), a 16-member volunteer peer group of perioperative registered nurses, each holding a Bachelor of Science or higher degree in nursing.

The Continuing Education Approval Committee's qualitative review ensures that the application is:

Accurate
Meets American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) criteria
Is relevant to professional practice
Meets the learning level of the target audience

Once an application has been reviewed, the applicant is notified of the results via email. If an application has met all ANCC requirements upon first review, the application is APPROVED immediately. If corrections are required, the application receives an APPROVAL PENDING status and the applicant is told specifically what information is still needed or needs revision and is provided with examples/suggestions to assist in making those corrections. A corrected application must be returned by a specified date and confirmed. If all requirements have been met, the program is APPROVED and final notification to the applicant is made. No program may be presented without this final approval from the Approval Process Project Coordinator. Approval must be obtained before the activity date.

Applications are accepted from AORN chapters, specialty assemblies, state councils, entrepreneurs, health care providers (hospitals, ambulatory settings, clinics), and industry.

Effective January 1, 2007

ANCC requirement will be 60 minutes per contact hour. Contact hours are calculated by dividing total contact time in minutes by 60.
Continuing education records must be maintained for 6 years.

NEW! Co-Providerships are no longer allowed. ANCC has taken this step to ensure the accredited approver unit is not placed in a position that would make it difficult - if not impossible - to ensure that compliance with all criteria is met. This is especially true in terms of the conflict of interest and commercial support realms. In a co-provided activity, it is virtually impossible for the accredited approver to ensure the absence of conflict of interest or commercial support of BOTH of the entities. Usually, one of the co-providing entities accepts responsibility for certain ACTIONS but, in the case of co-provided activities, BOTH entities are in a position to bias the continuing education. Yet, the approver unit receives the application from one entity - which is the only one it considers. It is possible that the conflict of interest exists on the other co-providing party and so, it would not be identified by the approver unit. Therefore, co-provided activities may not be approved for awarding of contact hours.

IMPORTANT: This does NOT prohibit approval of an activity that has a co-sponsor (someone who contributes financially but does not assist in the planning of the education activity).

Level I: AORN Constituents - AORN Chapters, Specialty Assemblies, and State Councils

Level II: Non-AORN Constituents - Healthcare Providers, Hospitals, Ambulatory Settings, Clinics, Local/Regional Nursing Organizations

Level II CE Approval Application (PDF)
Level II CE Approval Application (DOC)
Level II CE Approval Application Directions and Fee Schedule (PDF)

Level III: Non-AORN Constituents - Entrepreneurs or National/Specialty Nursing Associations with a primary focus on continuing education AND Industries

Chapter Programs Approved from the Continuing Education Approval Committee (CEAC)

List of Chapter Programs (PDF) - approved by CEAC for 2006
List of Chapter Programs (PDF) - approved by CEAC for 2007

Criteria for Conflict of Interest
All program applications for contact hours -- planners, and presenters -- are required to disclose all relevant financial relationships with any entity with a commercial interest. Conflict of interest relates to an individual with a conflict influencing the delivery of patient care.

This includes, but is not limited to:

Pharmaceutical companies
Biomedical device manufactures
Corporations whose products or services are related to pertinent therapeutic areas)

ANCC/AORN defines "financial relationships" as those relationships in which the individual benefits by receiving:

Salary
Royalty
Intellectual property rights
Consulting fee
Honoraria
Ownership interest (e.g., stocks, stock options, or other ownership interest, excluding diversified mutual funds)
"Contracted research" where the institution gets the grant and manages the funds and the individual is the principal or name investigator on the grant
Other financial benefit

Financial benefits are usually associated with roles such as:

Employment
Management position
Independent contractor (including contracted research)
Consulting
Speaking and teaching
Membership on advisory committees or review panels, board membership, and other activities from which a fee is received, or expected

Additional Criteria includes:

Relationships of the person involved in the CNE activity include financial relationships of a family member.
Financial relationships in any amount, occurring within the past 12 months, qualifies as "relevant" in terms of creating a conflict of interest.
Presentations must provide a balanced view of therapeutic options. Use of generic names will contribute to this impartiality.
Nurse planners must identify and resolve any Conflict of Interest by speakers prior to activity date.

The identified Conflict of Interest must be indicated on the speaker's Biographical Data Form along with how the conflict was resolved.

An individual who refuses to disclose relevant financial relationship will disqualify an application from receiving contact hours.

The intent of this disclosure is not to prevent applicants, planners, and presenters with a significant financial relationship from participating, but rather to provide the program attendees with information for their own judgment.

For more information, contact the Approval Unit, or by phone at 800-755-2676, Ext. 254.