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Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education Expands to Include Accreditors in Psychology and Social Work

December 12, 2018

New Collaboration Increases Opportunities for Mental Health Professionals to Participate in Continuing Healthcare Education for the Team, by the Team

Chicago, IL; Silver Spring, MD; Washington, DC; Culpeper, VA

December 12, 2018

Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education is pleased to announce a new collaboration with the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB).

Founded in 2009, Joint Accreditation offers organizations the opportunity to be simultaneously accredited to provide continuing education for physicians, pharmacists, nurses, PAs (physician assistants), and optometrists through a unified accreditation process and set of accreditation standards. The new collaboration expands Joint Accreditation, giving jointly accredited interprofessional continuing education (IPCE) organizations the option to include psychologists and social workers in their education programs, without needing to attain separate accreditations with APA and ASWB.

The accreditors collaborated to expand Joint Accreditation in response to requests from jointly accredited organizations and because of their commitment to team-based education. The goal of the expansion is to increase the benefits that jointly accredited organizations already receive from the unified accreditation process and to support their efforts to deliver high-quality, effective IPCE that improves team collaboration and patient care.

Leadership Comments

“The American Psychological Association (APA) is deeply committed to the values of interprofessional continuing education, and excited to join the ranks of Joint Accreditation. Our collective contributions can enhance the quality of interprofessional training and development and contribute to more efficient and effective integrated care.  As part of a growing team of interprofessional collaborators, APA looks forward to supporting multidisciplinary training and education based on science, informed by expertise, and dedicated to excellence.”Jaime Diaz-Granados, PhD, Chief Education Officer, American Psychological Association

“Social workers are an important part of the interprofessional team, and ASWB is delighted to be able to offer CE to them by joining Joint Accreditation. Through this collaboration, ASWB’s Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program advances its mission of supporting competency in the social work profession. The health care team is strengthened when all members receive integrated high-quality and relevant training, and the benefits to patients and public protection are thereby multiplied.”Mary Jo Monahan, MSW, LCSW, ASWB Chief Executive Officer

“We celebrate our collaboration with our colleague accreditors, APA and ASWB, because it recognizes the important contributions of psychologists and social workers to improving team care. With IPCE, all voices are heardand this collaboration empowers educators to expand the diversity of their IPCE programs to better meet the needs of their learners and the patients we all serve.”Graham McMahon, MD, MMSc, President and CEO, Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME®)

“As accreditors, our goal is to promote education that enables healthcare professionals to deliver optimal care in an increasingly complex and challenging environment. As a result of our collaboration with APA and ASWB, jointly accredited organizations can bring more professions together to learn from, about, and with each other, with the common goal of building stronger, more inclusive teams.”Peter H. Vlasses, PharmD, DSc (Hon), FCCP, Executive Director, Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE)

“There is a growing body of evidence demonstrating that participation in IPCE improves healthcare professionals’ performance and patient outcomes. We welcome our colleague accreditors at APA and ASWB to our Joint Accreditation team and look forward to working together to continue to advance interprofessional collaborative practice.”Kathy Chappell, PhD, RN, FNAP, FAAN, Senior Vice President of Accreditation, Certification, Measurement, Quality, and the Institute for Credentialing Research, American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC)

Joint Accreditation Media Inquiries

Tamar Hosansky
312-245-4066
[email protected]

About Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education

Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing EducationTM offers organizations the opportunity to be simultaneously accredited to provide continuing education activities in the professions of medicine, nursing, optometry, pharmacy, psychology, and social work through a single, unified application process, fee structure, and set of accreditation standards. Jointly accredited providers may award single profession or interprofessional continuing education credit (IPCE) to participating professions without needing to obtain separate accreditations. Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education is the first and only process in the world offering this benefit.

Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education is a collaboration of the following organizations:

  • Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME)
  • Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE)
  • American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC)
  • American Academy of PAs (AAPA)
  • Association of Regulatory Boards of Optometry’s Council on Optometric Practitioner Education (ARBO/COPE)
  • American Psychological Association (APA)
  • Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)

For more information, visit www.jointaccreditation.org.

About APA

The American Psychological Association, in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA’s membership includes nearly 115,700 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people’s lives.

About ASWB

The Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) is the nonprofit organization composed of the social work regulatory boards in the United States and Canada. ASWB’s 64 member jurisdictions include all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. territories of the Virgin Islands and Guam, the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and all ten Canadian provinces. ASWB’s Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program approves providers of social work continuing education as a service to ASWB member social work regulatory boards. ACE helps social workers identify and easily find the highest quality CE. Each social work regulatory board has final authority in accepting any continuing education. The mission of ASWB is to provide support and services to the social work regulatory community to advance safe, competent, and ethical practices to strengthen public protection.