The Accredited Provider Program Director (AP-PD) role is defined by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) as “a registered nurse who holds a current, active license with no practice restrictions, and a graduate degree, with either the baccalaureate or graduate degree in nursing (or international equivalent), who has the authority within a Provider Unit (PU) to ensure adherence to the ANCC Nursing Continuing Professional Development (NCPD) Accreditation Program criteria in the provision of NCPD” (ANCC, 2023, p. 47). The AP-PD may work with nurse planners who support the professional development of nurses and other healthcare team members within the PU.
AP-PD can be a formal title and a primary role of a nurse—a perfect fit for a nursing professional development (NPD) practitioner. However, there are also instances when being the AP-PD is one of the many hats worn by an NPD practitioner. As the Association for Nursing Professional Development’s (ANPD) NPD director of education, I fall into the latter.
Whether an organization’s PU operates with an AP-PD who holds this individual title and primary responsibilities, or with an AP-PD who holds more than one title, role, and responsibilities, this position leverages the expertise of our nursing specialty to enhance the professional growth of nurses and other healthcare team members.
This article explores the role of the AP-PD and shares tips from our ANPD Provider Unit, which I am proud to share successfully achieved ANCC reaccreditation with distinction in 2024.
The Role of the Accredited Provider Program Director
NPD practitioners who have the AP-PD as one of their major job description components have a primary responsibility to direct and manage all NCPD programs. At minimum, this involves expertise in the following standards of Nursing Professional Development: Scope & Standards of Practice (Harper & Maloney, 2022):
- Standard 1 – Assessment
- Standard 2 – Diagnosis
- Standard 3 – Outcomes Identification
- Standard 4 – Planning
- Standard 5 – Implementation
- Standard 6 – Evaluation
The AP-PD singularly, or along with nurse planners (NPs), is responsible for ensuring that NCPD is effective, correct, meaningful for the right reason, relevant, inclusive, and outcomes-driven. Certainly, this cannot be achieved without:
- Standard 7: Ethics
- Standard 8: Advocacy
- Standard 9: Respectful and Equitable Practice
- Standard 10: Communication
- Standard 11: Collaboration
- Standard 12: Leadership
- Standard 13: Education
- Standard 14: Scholarly Inquiry
- Standard 15: Quality of Practice
- Standard 16: Professional Practice Evaluation
- Standard 17: Resource Stewardship
- Standard 18: Environmental Health
The AP-PD directs NCPD by training and educating anyone involved in planning accredited educational activities and programs. As these activities and programs are developed, the AP-PD strictly adheres to the ANCC NCPD accredited program criteria and guidelines for achievement and sustainment of credibility and accreditation. We ensure processes are in place to serve as roadmaps, trackers, calendars, schedulers, communication methods, advertising, etc. to manage the life of a singular NCPD activity. The more activities a PU offers, the necessity for streamlined processes and operations increases. This includes human, financial, and material resources.
The AP-PD reports metrics to ANCC annually on all NCPD activities. The AP-PD is responsible for the annual report as well as the reaccreditation self-study application and process every four years. There are additional important details, criteria, and requirements for the AP-PD to follow in order to maintain accreditation (ANCC, 2023). ANCC’s resources, accessible on their website, provide in-depth information on these details.
Achieving Accreditation with Distinction: ANPD’s Provider Unit Case Example
ANPD's mission is to “advance quality healthcare by defining and promoting nursing professional development practice” (ANPD, 2018). The goal of ANPD is “to be acknowledged as the expert voice, advocate, and leading resource for nursing professional development practice” (ANPD, 2018). The PU’s purpose is to align with the mission and goal of the association by meeting the educational needs of the NPD community.
In 2024, ANPD’s PU was due to reapply for accreditation. The AP-PD and NPs thoroughly reviewed the criteria and resources that ANCC provided, made a project timeline with due dates for action items, and got to work. As we developed the self-study, a formalized process of reaccreditation, the team felt proud of the work that our team was conducting and pursued the application accreditation with distinction, a recognition of exceptional performance in advancing NCPD. Simultaneously, we sought the ANCC NCPD Premier Award nomination, which required an application describing exemplars of how our team excels in meeting the needs of the NPD community through our PU work in the areas of structural capacity, educational design process, and quality outcomes.
In October of 2024, ANPD received the ANCC Premier Award at the NCPD Summit along with eight other prominent PUs. In November of 2024, ANPD received reaccreditation with distinction.
Five Tips From the ANPD AP-PD for Accredited Provider Program Director
This role requires ongoing dedication, meticulous record keeping, leadership, communication, collaboration, and creativity. Here are a few tips for success from the ANPD AP-PD:
- Replace the word “paperwork” with “processes.” Role model the operations of the PU, streamline communication to any individuals who may have influence over the education content, and collaborate with as many individuals as possible. It’s not busy work—it’s being effective.
- Document. Write ideas, breakthroughs, and areas of opportunity for improvement down on lists, a post it, voice text to your smart phone notes, etc. Recall the wins so that they can be easily extrapolated into the narratives when providing exemplars.
- Put the cart before the horse. Think about what long-term outcomes you hope to achieve and cross-check if your program design is set up to meet them. If not, go back to the planning phase. By setting goals, not only for NCPD activities, but also on a larger scale for the PU, the AP-PD ensures resources of time, energy, and funding are used in ways that align with the team’s purpose.
- Go ahead and brag about what you are doing. Disseminate, disseminate! Take the opportunity to share the PU’s work with your organization’s thought leaders, locally, state-wide, or nationally.
- Color outside of the lines. Just because it was always done a certain way, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a better way to do it.
References:
Naomi Fox, DNP, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, CCRN
Director of Education, ANPD
Naomi Fox has been a nurse for 16 years with a clinical background in critical care working for both a large teaching hospital and a community hospital. As an NPD practitioner, she has worked as a critical care and telemetry service line educator, an NPD department coordinator, nurse residency program director, and the administrative director of an NPD department in a large teaching hospital. She maintains an adjunct instructor role in the Center for Professional Development, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, School of Nursing. She currently serves as the director of education for ANPD.