Policy on Independence and Integrity

Purpose
Nemours complies with the Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education which have been adopted by multiple accrediting bodies representing multiple health professions including the Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education™, Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

Anyone in control of Nemours accredited content, including planners and faculty, have a shared responsibility with Nemours Continuing Education staff to uphold these standards. Activity planners and faculty must comply with Nemours Continuing Education policies and procedures, requests from Nemours Continuing Education staff, and the Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Education.

The Nemours’ Policy on Independence applies to all accredited activities regardless of whether or not the activity receives any commercial support. An ineligible company can exert control on an activity in many ways including having an employee of an ineligible company involved in the development and delivery of content. The independence of an activity can also be threatened if ineligible companies providing commercial support of an activity attempt to control the content. Nemours supports the accredited continuing education community in its commitment to providing independent, ethical and scientifically valid education.

Nemours supports these national standards that are designed to:

  • “Ensure that accredited continuing education serves the needs of patients and the public.
  • Present learners with only accurate, balanced, scientifically justified recommendations.
  • Assure healthcare professionals and teams that they can trust accredited continuing education to help them deliver safe, effective, cost-effective, compassionate care that is based on best practice and evidence.
  • Create a clear, unbridgeable separation between accredited continuing education and marketing and sales.” (1)

Policy
There are five standards included in the Standards for Integrity and Independence released in 2020 and include:

Nemours operationalizes and enforces these standards through its:

  • Continuing Education staff that have received nationally recognized training on implementation of the Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education
  • Clinical activity directors and activity planning committees that plan content that is accurate, balanced and scientifically justified content relevant to the healthcare team
  • Nemours Content Validity Guidelines
  • Online activity application which guides activity planners to plan activity that is relevant, independent, appropriate, interactive and focused on producing the healthiest generations of children
  • Activity monitoring by Continuing Education staff and program directors
  • Oversight of activity budgets by Continuing Education and Nemours Accounting staff
  • Management of commercial support and ancillary activities performed exclusively by Nemours Continuing Education staff
  • Nemours Policy on Ancillary Activities and Ineligible Organizations Representatives Agreement
  • Financial disclosure forms and tools managed by Continuing Education staff and activity directors to collect information and mitigate relevant financial relationships
  • Activity website which allows for participants to view disclosure of all required information including the absence and presence of relevant financial relationships for those in control of content and commercial support received for activities before the activity.

To maintain the independence of Nemours, decisions regarding CE activities must be made free of control of any ineligible company (defined as “those whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients”). This includes owners and employees of ineligible companies.

For all accredited activities, all of those in control of content must comply with all Continuing Education guidance, requests, policies and procedures. Failure to comply will result in disqualification from the activity or removal of accreditation.

https://accme.org/accreditation-rules/standards-for-integrity-independence-accredited-ce/preamble