Interview with CEO, Ann Johnson
[Comptche, CA]—3/8/2018—Wild Iris Medical Education, Inc.,
an ANCC accredited business specializing in providing evidence-based and high-quality continuing education courses online for nurses and other healthcare professionals, is proud to announce national recertification as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) by the WBEC-Pacific, a regional certifying partner of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the nation’s largest third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women in the U.S.
Following is a short interview with CEO, Ann Johnson:
What’s the significance to Wild Iris Medical Education of being a certified woman-owned business?
Ms. Johnson: I am proud to receive this third recertification as a woman-owned business on behalf of our company. 2018 marks our 20th year in business. Most of the customers we serve are women. I’m glad we can show them that we personally relate to their needs and concerns as female professionals in the American workforce. We also recognize the commitment to supplier diversity that is embraced by corporations and government agencies today. Be meeting the needs of their employees for professional continuing education, we can add to that diversity.
After 20 years in business, what has surprised you most as Wild Iris Medical Education has grown and developed?
Ms. Johnson: The first surprise was the simple fact that we actually came up with an idea that worked! Back in 1998 I was an ER nurse and had no business background, much less any experience with this new Internet phenomenon. Over the years, the other big surprise has been how quickly the Internet has grown and how many changes that growth demands of an online company. It’s not like setting up a storefront and then just changing the window display every now and then. We’ve had to constantly increase our technical skills to be able to meet the latest developments. For instance, a few years ago, we completely redesigned our site to accommodate the big increase in mobile device and tablet users.
Why do you think so many professionals take a course with Wild Iris Medical Education?
Ms. Johnson: We offer our customers many advantages. First, everybody is very busy. If you’re like many of us, when you receive your license renewal notice in the mail, you may realize that you still need 30 hours of continuing education credit and that you need it now! With Wild Iris, you can visit our website 24/7 and earn those 30 hours from the comfort of your home. You don’t have to figure out how to attend a bunch of workshops or conferences in a short amount of time.
Wild Iris is also a great resource for travel nurses or professionals moving to another state. We offer the specific courses they need in order to be licensed in a new state, so our site is an easy place to take those courses even before they actually move to that state.
Third, we are a great resource for telehealth nurses who have to be licensed in every state in which their callers may be phoning in from. Some of them actually have to be licensed in all 50 states, and we provide all the mandated education required to get licensure in all those different states.
Who develops your continuing education courses?
Ms. Johnson: Wild Iris courses are written by authors and clinicians with years of experience in their fields. Our team of planners, content reviewers, and editors further ensures that each course meets the rigorous standards of the American Nurses Credentialing Center, a branch of the American Nurses Association.
Wild Iris’s ANCC accreditation for continuing nursing education (CNE) lets our customers know that the courses we develop are accepted by nursing boards in all 50 U.S. states.
How often do you come up with new CEU courses or update existing courses?
Ms. Johnson: We update our courses every three years so that they represent the latest in evidence-based practice. And we are constantly working on new courses, with a particular focus on providing all courses that are newly mandated by every state around the country. For instance, we just added new versions of our course on the very timely subject of prescription drug abuse . The current opioid abuse epidemic is a problem that’s having a big impact within the nursing field today. We also have newer courses on topics such as recognizing and preventing human trafficking and child abuse. Of course, we also offer a broad range of courses covering all the different areas in which nurses work, including such perennial favorites as stroke, infection control, diabetes, and dozens more.
Wild Iris courses are written by authors and clinicians with years of experience in their fields.
Do you have a lot of repeat customers? Why are they coming back?
Ms. Johnson: Yes, we have a lot of loyal customers, in part because most healthcare professionals have to renew their licenses every two years. But with so many competitors out there, I think the real reason our customers come back to Wild Iris is because we offer the highest-quality courses and our website is easier to use. Unlike the other guys, we do not lock our courses up and ask a customer to pay to see them. With us, customers can read a course first to be sure it meets their educational needs. Then they can take whatever time they need to study the material and pass the post-test. Finally, they pay, and we instantly provide them with their certificate of completion. There’s no upfront risk, and it’s hassle-free. My feeling is that the job of a nurse is stressful enough without having to worry about keeping up with one’s continuing education needs.
And we’re not just for nurses. We also provide continuing education for physical therapists and assistants, occupational therapists and assistants, and EMS personnel like first responders, paramedics and EMTs as well as state-mandated courses for other healthcare professionals.
About WBENC:
Founded in 1997, WBENC is the nation’s leader in women’s business development and the leading third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women, with more than 13,000 certified Women’s Business Enterprises, 14 national Regional Partner Organizations, and over 300 Corporate Members. More than 1,000 corporations representing America’s most prestigious brands as well as many states, cities, and other entities accept WBENC Certification. For more information, visit www.wbenc.org.
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About Wild Iris Medical Education:
Wild Iris Medical Education, Inc., is a privately held, woman-owned company providing online healthcare continuing education. In 1998, we began offering online ANCC-accredited nursing continuing education courses and since then have expanded to provide CEUs for occupational therapists, physical therapists, paramedics, EMTs, and other healthcare professionals.
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High-quality, accredited, evidenced-based continuing education courses in an easy-to-use format designed for learning, from Wild Iris Medical Education. We’ve been providing online CE since 1998.
