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Qualifying for Continuing Education Credits - A Guide by Labroots

13 Dec, 2023 | Sarah Hoffman

Labroots is a proud provider of P.A.C.E.® C.E. credits accredited through the A.S.C.L.S. Additionally, we offer Florida C.E. credits through the State of Florida C.E. Broker.

Before submitting your materials to our team to build your microsite and begin the marketing process, please use this checklist made by the Labroots team, then read through two of the A.S.C.L.S. content requirements to see if your webinar or virtual event is eligible for continuing education credits.

C.E. Credit Eligibility Checklist

Make use of the following commercial bias checklist to see if your presentation includes bias that would render it ineligible for C.E. credits:

Does your presentation directly promote your product or service?
Does the speaker/presenter have a financial stake in the topic being presented?
Do you only present your own data/devices/technology/product?
If training on an instrument/device/technology, has your speaker/presenter disclosed any financial stake in the presentation?
Have you prioritized branding over content?

If you checked any of these boxes, you may NOT be eligible for C.E. credits in accordance with P.A.C.E.^® policy.

By adjusting your content to comply with these policies and attaching C.E. credits to your webinar or virtual event, you can increase your reach, attendance, and engagement. If you checked any of the above boxes, see the recommendations below from the Labroots team.

Discuss this type of product/service in a more general educational manner, with yours as one of a few options or types discussed.

Disclose any financial stake that a speaker may have in a presentation or technology. Disclosure is important.

Present data other than your own. Yes, this is a sponsored presentation, and you don’t want to be outshined, but including other published data allows your presentation to be more balanced and comply with policy.

Make sure your educational content comes first. Branding is fine according to policy, as long as it isn’t the only thing an attendee sees.

1. Learning Objectives

Approved webinars or virtual events must have measurable learning objectives. It is recommended to provide a minimum of 3 objectives for a 1-hour program.

There are four essential elements in a measurable learning objective:
1. Audience: for whom is the program intended?
2. Action: what is the participant supposed to be able to do as a result of the program?
3. Conditions: what initial set of criteria is the participant given?
4. Degree: how well is the participant expected to be able to perform the action at the end of the program?

Steps for developing measurable learning objectives are:
1. Determine level of instruction: basic, intermediate, advanced;
2. Identify what your audience should be able to do after the program;
3. Write specific measurable learning objectives in terms of actions, conditions, and degree to correlate with level of instruction the attendee is expected to attain;
4. Evaluate whether the program instruction satisfies the objectives.

P.A.C.E.^® has provided the following list of appropriate verbs that may be used to prepare measurable learning objectives.

*Avoid non-measurable verbs: amplify, appreciate, be acquainted with, be aware, be(come) familiar with, explore, gain insight, improve, increase, know, learn, realize, understand.

2. Commercial Bias

P.A.C.E.^® has a strict commercial bias policy that applies to all clients seeking the attachment of C.E. credits to their webinars or virtual events with Labroots. The official P.A.C.E.^® policy can be found here and is amended below:

P.A.C.E. programming should be presented without commercial bias. Commercial bias is defined as an unbalanced presentation of educational materials with the goal of swaying opinions in favor of a particular commercial product or business. In accordance with this, the following policies apply:

1. Presentations that directly promote a provider’s products or services shall generally not be eligible to provide P.A.C.E. credit.

2. Presentations shall not be eligible to provide P.A.C.E. credit when the presenter has a direct financial stake in the topic being presented. Typically, a direct financial stake would be represented by royalties, intellectual property rights, or investment or ownership stakes. In cases where speakers are employees or company sponsored (including when receiving salaries or honoraria) the presentations are eligible for P.A.C.E. credit, though presenters should ensure to clearly disclose the relationship and potential conflict of interest.

3. Presentations about a device, procedure, or testing methodology must be balanced when multiple devices, procedures or testing methodologies exist. The presentation should make mention of what is available, even when not the focus of the presentation.

4. Presentations designed to provide instrument training are generally eligible to provide P.A.C.E., including when the presenter has a direct financial stake. The presenter is obligated to disclose the nature of that financial stake (e.g. employment, paid spokesperson, etc.) even under any such circumstances.

5. The Director of P.A.C.E. at the direction of the P.A.C.E. committee has the authority to waive this policy when they believe it is necessary to provide high quality presentations. Such waivers should include a review of the proposed presentation that finds the presentation covers important educational content, the presenter has appropriate (and where applicable, unique) qualifications and expertise, and that all conflicts of interest are thoroughly disclosed.

6. Branding of slides is explicitly acceptable; however, presentations are expected to prioritize the content of the program over inclusion of branding.

If you are unsure if your presentation is eligible for C.E. credits, please get in touch with your Labroots contact on the Production team and send your slide deck. The Labroots C.E. review team is happy to review slides for bias prior to a presentation going live.