Two St. Tammany Health System Pediatric Departments are now a Certified Autism Center™ (CAC), a designation granted by the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES). The designation means that physicians and staff in the inpatient pediatric unit and pediatric emergency department completed an additional autism-specific training and certification program to improve patient outcomes and experiences.
“We are excited to earn this designation because it gives local families confidence that they can entrust their autistic loved one’s care to us,” Cindy Ingram RN, St. Tammany Health System assistant vice president of women’s and children’s care, said. “Through this process, we have learned how to interact with our autistic patients from the time we enter their care space. Everything we do and how we do it shows that patient that we can be trusted and are there to help. This is vitally important for autistic patients because they experience interpersonal interactions differently, and we’re grateful to IBCCES for instilling these skills in our team.”
For more than 20 years, IBCCES has been the industry leader in cognitive disorder training and certification for education, healthcare, and corporate professionals around the globe. IBCCES provides evidence-based training and certification programs created in conjunction with clinical experts and individuals with autism in order to provide professionals serving individuals with cognitive disorders a better understanding of what these disorders are, industry best practices, and the latest research in these areas.
“IBCCES is excited to work with these two departments at St. Tammany to build upon their team’s expertise. Our specialized programs will help their clinicians and staff do what they do best – provide the best care for their pediatric patients,” said Myron Pincomb, IBCCES Board Chairman.
IBCCES also created CertifiedAutismCenter.com, as a free online resource for parents that lists certified locations and professionals. Each organization listed on the site has met Certified Autism Center™ (CAC) requirements.
