Samaritan, a not-for-profit, leading provider of home-based primary care, palliative medicine and hospice care, as well as grief support, education and advocacy based in Mount Laurel, recently achieved Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education. This accreditation allows Samaritan to efficiently offer continuing education credits for multiple disciplines, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists and social workers.
Notably, Samaritan is the first hospice organization in the nation to receive this accreditation – it will join the company of only 160 institutions and organizations across the nation, including the renowned Cleveland Clinic and Harvard Medical School.
“We are proud to receive this prestigious designation by the Joint Accreditation,” Phillip Heath, president and CEO of Samaritan said. “Samaritan has a longstanding history of providing continuing education to our care team members, including nurses and social workers. Our commitment to professional growth and development was only reaffirmed when we launched the Institute for Education, Research & Innovation in 2020.”
The Boccolini Institute, now renamed in honor of former Samaritan President & CEO, Mary Ann Boccolini, provides evidence-based practices and resources for health care professionals.
“Pursuing this accreditation was the natural next step for Samaritan – giving all of our health professionals the opportunity to learn, grow, and apply practical knowledge and skills in order to achieve top quality, life-enhancing care for patients and their families,” Heath said.
The Joint Accreditation was founded in 1988 by Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) and The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) but has since grown to include 10 accrediting bodies. It offers multiple professions in health care the opportunity to be simultaneously accredited for continuing education activities via a single application process, fee structure and set of standards, streamlining the process for all.
“Interprofessional continuing education is transforming the healthcare system,” Dr. Sara Pagliaro, chief medical officer for Samaritan, said. “By providing professionals with the opportunity to learn with, from and about each other, we are encouraging better collaboration and a more team-centric approach to care delivery – which will ultimately spur growth, encourage widespread change and improve health outcomes.”
With this new accreditation, Samaritan deepens its commitment to quality, team-based education and care delivery, which has been shown to improve patient outcomes, reduce errors and hospitalization, and increase staff engagement.
With the establishment of The Mary Ann Boccolini Institute for Education, Research & Innovation, Samaritan continues to offer a variety of interprofessional continuing education (IPCE), including courses on trauma-informed care and interdisciplinary hospice and palliative care, clinical professional and student rotations, and a variety of educational courses to expand professional breadth of knowledge.
