Sarah Bush Lincoln continuing education recently achieved reaccreditation with distinction, which allows SBL to award continuing education hours to nursing staff.
Continuing education is offered to SBL nursing staff to continually keep staff up-to-date on best medical practices and help them learn new skills. Every three years, SBL has to submit data and evidence of continuing education to maintain accreditation through the Montana Nurses Association (MNA).
The accreditation with distinction means SBL not only meets the baseline standards to achieve accreditation, but utilizes continuing education at a higher quality than the baseline requirements.
“When you submit your evidence and data, you have to give examples of how you’re educating your staff to meet different standards put forth by the MNA,” Clinical Educator Lindsey Truex, RN, said. “Typically, they only asked for one example for each standard. We provided multiple examples and included evidence of how we integrate and follow up on what we teach.”
Truex, who is the primary nurse planner for SBL, works with the accrediting body to make sure SBL is up-to-date on its practices. “I make sure that when we offer education to our staff, we are offering the highest quality education that we can, while following guidelines,” she said.
Continuing education is provided through different avenues, including traditional classes nurses can take at SBL, or through other teaching methods. One such instance is when SBL hired Otolaryngologist Sandra Ettema, MD, who began offering new airway procedures.
“We realized that Dr. Ettema’s ENT procedures involved more staff than we initially thought,” Truex said. “SBL Clinical Education set up a weeklong event in 2024 to teach 182 staff members everything they needed to know to help carry out these procedures and provide the best care possible.”
Truex, along with more than a dozen other clinical educators and the SBL Performance Excellence department, are proud that SBL earned reaccreditation with distinction and are already starting the next application.
“This recognition shows SBL’s support of the nursing staff staying up-to-date with the best and most current knowledge,” Truex said. “We are also helping our nurses maintain their licenses because to do so, they need a certain amount of education hours every two years.”
In 2024 alone, SBL offered 160 classes for a total of 319.25 continuing education credits. SBL tallied 3,851 attendees, with 5,620 credits dispersed to SBL staff.