Why CEs (Continuing education) matter
Included In This Lesson
Outline
Overview
- CE’s matter because….
- Medical knowledge is constantly evolving and changing.
- Continual learning is essential to ensure best practice.
- They help ensure that all nurses are making efforts to stay up-to-date.
- They are required for most license renewals.
- Number required varies per state.
- Tips
- View CE’s as an important part of your practice, NOT a just a box to check.
- Try to integrate your learning with your practice.
- Take courses that cover content related to the patients you care for.
- Take courses that interest you.
- What kind of medicine fascinates you?
- Do you love pharmacology?
- Do you thrive on patient education?
- Use down time at work (if manager approved!) to complete course
- Don’t wait until the last minute.
Transcript
Hey you guys, in this lesson we are going to talk about continuing education.
So, there is so much to know in the medical world and on top of that medical knowledge is always changing. New medications and treatments are being researched all the time. The only way to make sure our nursing practice is staying current is to be dedicated to continual learning.
Continuing Education was created as a way to try and provide structure and consistency for all nurses who are engaging in continual learning. So what exactly are CE’s, well they are basically just a way to document any training or education that you undertake. Medical conferences, journal articles, online courses, all of these different places can apply to an accredited program to be able to offer continuing education units to people who complete a course. The units or credits reflect the time spent on the training. Usually, you get a certificate of sometimes documenting that you’ve completed the course.
A lot of states require nurses to have completed a certain number of hours before they can renew their license, so check your state’s requirements to see how many you need to complete before you renew your license.
Alright, I’ve got a few tips for you.
The first is to view it as an essential and important part of your practice. It’s not just a box to tick, it keeps you up-to-date and makes sure your provide the best care possible.
Second, integrate it with your daily work- choose topics that are related to the types of patients you usually care for. This keeps it relevant and helps the information stick.
Third, focus on what interests you. Do you love pharmacology? Patient education? Choose training courses that you know you’ll enjoy!
Fourth, sometimes you can use downtime at work to complete some online training- check with your manager- but it’s always nice to get these things done at work rather than having to use your time off for it.
Fifth, make sure you keep track of your certificates and your hours so that when it’s time to renew your license you don’t have to spend days looking for everything.
Okay, so where should you look to find CE’s? A great place to start is professional journals. Honestly, you can just google professional nursing journals to find a list to start from. Nursingcentre.com has a great list and I’ve included this in the links for this lesson. Another great way to look for CE’s is to search for professional organizations associated with your specialty. Some examples are, The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, or the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. These websites will likely offer CE’s, some free some not, but they will also probably have conferences happening throughout the year where you can knock out a bunch of CE’s at once.
Some consistent websites to find free CE’s are medscape.com. I actually use medscape a lot. And then also Nurse.com.
So let’s do a quick recap. CE’s are way to document time spent in training. Remember continual learning helps keep us up-do-date and ensures best practice.
Try to integrate it with your daily practice so that it is related to the work you do and try to choose topics that interest you!
And lastly, don’t wait until the last minute. You don’t want to be stuck trying to do 20 hours worth of continuing education in one night!
We love you guys! Go out and be your best self today! And as always, Happy Nursing!
Katies NCLEX
Concepts Covered:
- Test Taking Strategies
- Medication Administration
- Adult
- Emergency Care of the Cardiac Patient
- Microbiology
- Anxiety Disorders
- Depressive Disorders
- Nervous System
- Gastrointestinal Disorders
- Fundamentals of Emergency Nursing
- Dosage Calculations
- Understanding Society
- Circulatory System
- Concepts of Pharmacology
- Studying
- Newborn Care
- Adulthood Growth and Development
- Respiratory Disorders
- Pregnancy Risks
- Neurological
- Postpartum Complications
- Substance Abuse Disorders
- Bipolar Disorders
- Learning Pharmacology
- Psychotic Disorders
- Prenatal Concepts
- Tissues and Glands
- Factors Influencing Community Health
- Concepts of Population Health
- Community Health Overview
- Developmental Considerations
- Communication
- Legal and Ethical Issues
- Cardiovascular
- Emergency Care of the Neurological Patient
- Emergency Care of the Respiratory Patient
- Emergency Care of the Trauma Patient
- Delegation
- Multisystem
- Health & Stress
- Childhood Growth and Development
- Prenatal and Neonatal Growth and Development
- Trauma-Stress Disorders
- Developmental Theories
- Concepts of Mental Health
- Gastrointestinal
- Newborn Complications
- Labor Complications
- Fetal Development
- Terminology
- Labor and Delivery
- Postpartum Care
- Prefixes
- Suffixes
- Proteins
- Statistics
- Med Term Basic
- Med Term Whole
- Cardiac Disorders
- Preoperative Nursing
- Intraoperative Nursing
- Vascular Disorders
- Noninfectious Respiratory Disorder
- Upper GI Disorders
- Central Nervous System Disorders – Brain
- Shock
- Immunological Disorders
- Postoperative Nursing
- Perioperative Nursing Roles
- Hematologic Disorders
- Disorders of Pancreas
- Neurological Trauma
- Neurological Emergencies
- Musculoskeletal Trauma
- EENT Disorders
- Peripheral Nervous System Disorders
- Respiratory Emergencies
- Shock
- Disorders of the Posterior Pituitary Gland
- Endocrine
- Disorders of the Thyroid & Parathyroid Glands
- Liver & Gallbladder Disorders
- Lower GI Disorders
- Respiratory
- Acute & Chronic Renal Disorders
- Disorders of the Adrenal Gland
- Documentation and Communication
- Oncology Disorders
- Female Reproductive Disorders
- Cognitive Disorders
- Renal Disorders
- Male Reproductive Disorders
- Sexually Transmitted Infections
- Infectious Respiratory Disorder
- Integumentary Disorders
- Urinary Disorders
- Integumentary Disorders
- Musculoskeletal Disorders
- Disorders of Thermoregulation
- Basics of NCLEX
- Integumentary Important Points
- Urinary System
- Neurologic and Cognitive Disorders
- Central Nervous System Disorders – Spinal Cord
- Renal and Urinary Disorders
- Respiratory System
- Infectious Disease Disorders
- EENT Disorders
- Eating Disorders
- Personality Disorders
- Psychological Emergencies
- Somatoform Disorders
- Prioritization
- Hematologic Disorders
- Cardiovascular Disorders
- Musculoskeletal Disorders
- Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders
- Oncologic Disorders
- Behavior
- Emotions and Motivation
- Growth & Development
- Intelligence and Language
- Psychological Disorders
- State of Consciousness
- Basics of Sociology
- Note Taking
- Basics of Human Biology