SAN ANTONIO (Jan. 17, 2018) – Navy Medicine personnel now have another venue to earn Continuing Education Units (CEU) at no cost to them, their command or Navy Medicine.
CEUs may now be earned online via the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) “Train,” said Capt. Ethan Josiah, then head of the Navy Medicine Education, Training and Logistics Command (NMETLC) Staff Education and Training (SEAT) Program Management Office (PMO).
“One of our goals is to provide an array of free CEU topics from which healthcare providers can choose in order to meet their licensure and professional needs,” Josiah said. “Offering Train as an option for Navy Medicine directly supports that goal.”
The Train option also directly supports Navy Surgeon General Vice Adm. Forrest Faison’s partnership priority.
“The SEAT PMO is always looking for ways to maximize the partnership aspect of the NMETLC education and training mission,” Josiah said. “One way we can do that is to partner with the VA and leverage the VHA learning management system (LMS) VHA Train to offer CEUs. There’s very little variance across the VHA and Navy Medicine enterprises when it comes to the clinical aspect of what we do, and there’s no cost, so it’s a natural fit.”
An LMS is a software application that administers, documents, tracks, reports and delivers e-learning courses or training programs. Swank/Relies is Navy Medicine’s LMS, and Train is the VHA’s.
CEUs are required for both military and VHA providers. Cmdr. David Deike, assistant head of NMETLC SEAT department, said most Navy Medicine officers and civilian employees are required to earn a specific number of CE points annually to maintain credentials and licensure. This is especially true for licensed healthcare providers.
“The annual CEUs are required to maintain credentialing and licensure,” Josiah added. “The specifics are dependent upon the certifications and licensures required for the specialty and are mandated by their governing organization.”
NMETLC SEAT participates in a working group that includes the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) and VHA. Deike said the working group did the leg work needed to facilitate the Navy Medicine and VHA Train partnership.
“We’re working to see how to best simplify the opportunities to earn CEs on the Train system,” Deike said. “We’re want to ensure Swank/Relies and VHA Train talk to each other, and we want to ensure each side can capture their data. In the end, we want a single sign-on so Swank/Relies will take you right to Train without a unique, separate sign in via the VHA.”
While the single sign-in is being worked, there are already advantages to using VHA Train. Perhaps the greatest is the cost – zero. There are online pay sites Navy Medicine personnel may use for CE courses, but Deike said Navy Medicine strongly encourages using non-pay sites like Train.
As the work continues to improve the Train experience, Josiah said NMETLC’s SEAT department will continue finding ways to support Navy Medicine’s mission and the Navy Surgeon General’s priorities.
“The Surgeon General (SG) has articulated three priorities,” Josiah said, referring to Faison’s three priorities: Readiness, Health and Partnerships. “He often speaks about partnerships. Working with VHA no doubt aligns with the SG’s partnership priority.”
VHA Train can be accessed at www.train.org
Date Taken: | 01.17.2018 |
Date Posted: | 01.17.2018 13:40 |
Story ID: | 262310 |
Location: | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, US |
Web Views: | 311 |
Downloads: | 1 |
This work, NMETLC, BUMED Facilitate New Online Option for CE Units, by Larry Coffey, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.