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HealthStream Congratulates CHRISTUS St. Michael For Nurse Residency Program Accreditation

April 1, 2021
April 1, 2021

By Kimberly Herold, MBA, BSN, RN, Director, Professional Development Pathways, HealthStream

HealthStream congratulates CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital in Texarkana, TX, on the recent accreditation of their nurse residency program through the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s (ANCC) Practice Transition Accreditation Program (PTAP). Not only did St. Michael’s receive this industry gold seal of approval, their PTAP accreditation is with Distinction!

We recently spoke to Sherry Roberson, Clinical Education Manager at St. Michael, about their experience. According to Roberson, “For CHRISTUS St. Michael, accreditation is validation for all of the work we have done and will continue to do to ensure excellence and high standards for our nurse residency program.”

The Next Step after Launching the HealthStream Nurse Residency Pathway

After launching their first Nurse Residency Pathway cohort in August of 2016, the St. Michael team felt that in order to continue development of their nurse residency program, seeking accreditation would be the next logical step. They began the process in November 2017 by attending an ANCC PTAP Guidance Workshop and applied for accreditation in January 2018. The announcement of their accreditation came on July 24, 2018.

Finding Time Was a Challenge

Roberson expressed that the greatest challenge for St. Michael was finding the time to write the intensive self-study on top of their other responsibilities. She added, “There were two of us committed to working on the self-study. We just took time out of each day to gather information, organize data, write descriptions, and compile examples. We met weekly to brainstorm, plan, and discuss where we were and what we would focus on the next week.”

HealthStream Was a Key Solution for Data Gathering Requirements

Discussing the value HealthStream brought to the table, Roberson cited the ability to capture baseline and ongoing measurements using HealthStream’s Knowledge Assessment and Confidence Survey as the most important aspects, the results of which allowed the team to tailor the curriculum to meet their cohort’s needs. Having the data readily available through the HealthStream PathFinder Control Center was of great value when it came to documenting program results for the self-study.

Advice for Other Organizations Pursuing PTAP Accreditation

Looking back over the St. Michael experience, Roberson shares the following advice with other customers looking to achieve accreditation:

  1. Attend a PTAP Guidance workshop before you start the process!
  2. Manage your time wisely when writing your self-study. Make a timeline that includes each criteria and stick to it!
  3. Brainstorm often! We really had some “a-ha” moments in our weekly discussions and ended up with some of the most meaningful information for the self-study from those discussions.
  4. Keep your stakeholders informed of your progress in the accreditation process and start planning for your Virtual Site Visit well in advance. Start getting as many people as possible to commit to participate in the site visit early on. Past and current residents, educators, preceptors, nurse supervisors, managers, interdisciplinary team members, and of course, your CNO should be present to represent your program and be willing to share personal, and specific testimonials related to your residency program.

HealthStream is proud to have provided the structure for St. Michael’s program with our Nurse Residency Pathway. Our Pathway equips customers with the content, functionality, workflow, and support needed to help them succeed in developing new graduate nurses with confidence and competence!

Learn more about how HealthStream has facilitated other ANCC PTAP accreditation experiences.