The Continued Competency Initiative
What is Continued Competency?
Continued Competency of EMS practitioners is critical for quality care and operations. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) EMS Education Agenda for the Future: A Systems Approach led to a clear collaborative system for developing and enforcing national standards for entry-level competency in the United States, but similar systems for continued competency lack clear definition. Because of that, continued competency is a crucial area of interest for the National Registry. Continued Competency touches many aspects of EMS systems, including continuing education, licensure, certification, and local credentialing by the EMS agency. A systems approach to Continued Competency can help to ensure appropriate verifications and remove unnecessary conflicts.In 2019, the National Registry Board of Directors approved an initiative to explore new ways to verify Continued Competency with the aim of developing a systems approach agenda for the future of recertification. New ways to verify Continued Competency could revolutionize how we renew certification, licensure, and local credentialing.
With input from many EMS stakeholders, the National Registry has identified three (3) building blocks for the Continued Competency Project.
- Interim Rule Changes: Provides foundational work and consensus building to update rules effectively that improve national recertification in ways that coordinate with local credentialing and state licensure requirements.
- Evolving standards and medical evidence: Establishes a sustainable system to ensure that National Registry recertification requirements and examinations are explicitly linked to Evidence-Based Guidelines (EBGs) and evolving medical evidence.
- Agenda for the Future: A national group of EMS stakeholder organizations to outline a framework that aligns with the efforts of national recertification, continuing education accreditation, state relicensure, and local credentialing.
