National Registry sponsors must maintain a process to monitor individual attendance at group live programs in order to award the correct number of CPE credits to an attendee. The most commonly used method for attendance monitoring in group live programs is a sign-in sheet. However, a sign-in sheet comprised only of a list of participant names or participant signatures does not provide enough information to award the correct number of CPE credits to an attendee.  

Some ways to improve your sign-in sheets include:

• Add sign-in and sign-out times to the sheet. Make all participants aware that the fields must be completed in order to receive CPE credits. This should include participants signing in and out if they leave the program early or leave for an unscheduled, extended break.
• Have a program facilitator/room monitor present to verify participants’ arrival and departure times as well as noting any departures or extended breaks during the program.
• If the instructor or room monitor is responsible for noting arrival and departure times as well as unscheduled or extended breaks, he/she should sign or include an attestation statement to the sheet as documentation.

Sponsors have the discretion to develop attendance monitoring policies for their continuing education programs. The key to attendance monitoring is that the policy should provide you with a level of confidence and evidence that the CPE credits awarded to a participant is accurate. The participant records maintained for your programs should support the attendance monitoring policy(ies).