As we begin 2021, there is a new term for nursing continuing education. The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) is the accrediting body for nursing continuing education. Both NAON and Wolters Kluwer, our publishing partner, abide by the guidelines set forth by the ANCC.
In 2020, the ANCC made two changes to the criteria for nursing continuing education that are to be implemented in 2021. The first change is that the old term of Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) may be changed to Nursing Continuing Professional Development (NCPD). You will see a new logo on continuing education manuscripts in Orthopaedic Nursing. An example of the new logo can be found on page 7 of this issue. NAON has chosen to continue to use CNE for their continuing education opportunities. The two terms are synonymous and are equal.
The second change relates to the quality of the educational materials that will be published within the journal by adding additional information to manuscripts. Although many of our previously published manuscripts meet the new criteria, additional guidance will be added to the journal's Author Guidelines to help authors prepare their manuscripts. Wolters Kluwer has prepared the recommendations that will help us more clearly identify important aspects for manuscripts. I think they are also helpful to someone who wants to become an author.
Professional Practice Gaps
One of the first topics is to think about any practice gaps that might be noticed in practice. In your clinical area, you might see something that does not meet the current standards set forth by your institution, professional organizations, or any other group that oversees best practice. Begin by discussing why your topic is a problem and provide supporting information to support that there is a problem. As an example, I am currently working with a DNP student who is looking at Safe Sleep Positioning on her pediatric unit where they do not meet national recommendations. This would be the practice gap that this student is seeking to change with her DNP project.
For Orthopaedic Nursing, we group our manuscripts into the following types: clinical review articles, research, quality improvement, and management. Specific guidance has been developed by Wolters Kluwer to help authors prepare manuscripts for submission (see Table 1).
As we begin 2021, we are excited to implement these changes as we always continue to provide orthopaedic nurses worldwide the best, evidence-based information that will help advance clinical practice.
The members of the Editorial Board stand ready to assist authors in their preparation of manuscripts for Orthopaedic Nursing. Here is to a great 2021, with new authors making that step to become published and also seeing those returning authors succeed in publication of their work!