Guidelines for Arranging AHEC/SON Continuing Education Programs

Our office is pleased to be able to assist regional AHEC Nursing personnel by providing speakers to teach continuing education programs throughout the state. To smooth the process of setting up AHEC/SON CE experiences, we present the following guidelines, which describe how regional AHECs and the SON cooperatively administer these programs.

Finding and contracting with speakers:

  • Review this online SON/AHEC Speakers and Programs Catalogue to match faculty expertise with your regional needs. If you need assistance with identifying potential speakers, please call our office so that we can assist you.
  • Once you have decided on a particular program or speaker, please fill in the Program Request Form page and submit it to Annie Taft . She will contact the speaker to see if they would be available to teach for you and will then provide you with faculty contact information.
  • At that point, you may contact the faculty member directly to ask him/her to teach. Please note that speakers who are not full-time employees of the state of North Carolina are entitled to an honorarium. The SON AHEC office must pay honoraria for all paid speakers that it provides. If a regional AHEC pays a speaker directly , that individual cannot be considered to be SON speaker.
  • Once a speaker has agreed to teach, immediately contact the SON AHEC office. A program is not officially scheduled until our office generates a “Faculty Agreement” between the AHEC, the speaker, and the SON AHEC Office.
  • A copy of that agreement will be sent to you as an email attachment. Please review it carefully and notify our office immediately if any changes are necessary. If no changes are needed, just retain it for your records. If changes are needed, we will send you a revised agreement.

Making program and travel arrangements:

  • The host AHEC makes all program presentation and accommodation arrangements for speakers. The SON makes all travel arrangement including automobiles and Med Air flights.
  • If hotel accommodations are required, be sure to have them approved by our office in advance. We prefer that as host AHEC, you may make hotel reservations for a speaker; though we can make the arrangements if necessary. Remember, no AHEC may pay for the hotel room since that is a SON expense. Ask the speaker to charge the hotel room to a personal credit card and our office will reimburse that person for those costs after receiving the original hotel receipt and reimbursement form.
  • If faculty members ask you to make travel arrangements for them, please refer them back to our office.
  • If faculty members travel by Med Air,ground transportation from the airport is provided by the hosting AHEC.

Marketing:

  • Please put the following statement on all marketing materials: “This program is being offered in cooperation with the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing”.

Enrollments, Cancellations and Postponements:

  • In general, the minimum enrollment is 15 participants in non-rural and 10 participants in rural areas. However, it may be possible to offer a program that is under-enrolled. Please contact our office prior to canceling any programs.
  • If it is necessary to cancel or postpone a program, notify our office at least three days in advance of the scheduled date and let us know why the change is necessary.

Wrapping it all up

  • For programs which occur prior to June 1: Within one month of program completion, please send our office the following information: an agenda, a program brochure, a typed participant roster with four digit social security numbers and participant’s address, county and workplace, the composite faculty evaluations, and a program purpose. (Information requested may be included on the program brochure).
  • For programs scheduled in June: It is essential that the information described is sent so that it arrives in our office no later than June 25. If our office does not receive these materials by that date, our ability to count those program hours may be compromised and faculty reimbursement may be affected.

Finally, Important Words of Advice:

  • Speakers who are not full-time employees of the state of North Carolina are entitled to honoraria. If you request a speaker through the SON, the SON AHEC office determines if that person must receive an honorarium and pays that speaker.  If a regional AHEC pays a speaker directly, that individual cannot be considered to be SON speaker and will not be supported through the School.