Karen Perez

Danvers Nursing Institute
USA

Abstract Title: Demonstrating Outcomes in Nursing Professional Development: Data Strategies for Accreditation

Biography: Karen Perez, DNP, APRN-AGPCNP-C, MSN-Ed, GERO-BC, AHN-BC is a nurse educator, accreditation strategist, and entrepreneur with more than a decade of experience in nursing education and professional development. She is the president of Danvers Nursing Institute and has extensive experience leading continuing nursing professional development initiatives and supporting organizations pursuing accreditation. Dr. Perez has served in multiple leadership roles, including nursing educator, dean of nursing, and director of nursing. Her work focuses on advancing nursing professional development, strengthening educational outcomes, and empowering nurses through leadership, education, and professional growth.

Research Interest: Nursing Professional Development (NPD) practitioners play an essential role in strengthening nursing competence, improving patient outcomes, and ensuring that continuing education programs meet accreditation standards. Despite the importance of these programs, many provider units struggle to clearly demonstrate measurable outcomes that show how educational activities influence nursing practice and patient care. Accreditation bodies increasingly expect organizations to provide evidence that educational activities address professional practice gaps and result in meaningful improvements in knowledge, clinical skills, and practice behaviors. This presentation will examine practical data strategies that NPD leaders can use to demonstrate outcomes that align with accreditation expectations. Drawing on real-world experience supporting accredited provider units, the session will discuss structured methods for collecting, analyzing, and presenting evaluation data that reflects the effectiveness of continuing professional development programs. Participants will learn how to align educational activities with identified practice gaps, develop measurable learning outcomes, and apply both quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods to measure educational impact. Strategies such as aggregated evaluation data, pre- and post-activity assessments, practice change indicators, and stakeholder feedback will be explored as tools for demonstrating improvement in professional practice. Attendees will leave the session with practical frameworks for developing outcome dashboards and evaluation processes that strengthen accreditation documentation while clearly demonstrating the value of nursing professional development programs in advancing nursing practice, organizational performance, and patient outcomes. Keywords: Nursing Professional Development, Continuing Nursing Education, Accreditation Outcome Measurement, Healthcare Education Evaluation