What is Continuing Education in Nursing

Nursing is our nation’s largest healthcare profession. With a little over 4 million registered nurses, it is about 4 times the size of the physician workforce according to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

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Nurses play an essential role in patient care in every healthcare setting. And to provide the best service, they must stay up-to-date with the latest information available.

The healthcare field is changing and at a rapid rate. We see new technologies, treatments, and research emerging daily.

With this in mind, continuing education units (CEUs) are an important tool for nurses everywhere.

The scope of work for any healthcare professional is diverse and unpredictable.

While fundamental nursing education provides basic competency, it doesn’t necessarily equal practice readiness. Practice readiness means a nurse can perform tasks while communicating clearly and thinking critically.

This is why CEUs are helpful. These programs are perfect for filling in the gaps of prelicensure education. Although you can complete a CEU online and from the comfort of your home, be cautious. They must meet the standards of a recognized organization in order to count.

A few notable CEU accreditation organizations for nursing include…
* The American Association of Nurse Practitioners
* American Nurses Credentialing Center
* National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners

Note that each state also has a set of guidelines concerning continued education. This includes accumulating a specific number of continuing education hours or credits.

According to a study published by the Journal of Surgical Research, self-study exams through the use of CEUs are nurses' preferred medium of learning.

Two advantages of this type of learning are their quick effectiveness and low cost. Approximately 65% of nurses prefer self-study courses due to these reasons.

Besides finding training that fits into their schedule, educational programs should also capture the learner’s attention. Passive listening can become monotonous and for a lack of better words boring.

Here are some examples of nursing courses offered through CEUs:
* Adolescent Substance Use
* Behavioral Health: Screening and Intervention
* Childhood and Adolescent Depression
* Food and Housing: Screening and Intervention
* Immunization
* Treating Children with Asthma
* Treating Post Concussion Syndrome

Nurses have an obligation to their patients and their employer to have a sound understanding of the scope of their practice. They also must strive to have confidence in their ability to offer safe care to those they treat. In order to do this, there must be a reliable source of information to readily tap into.

Through continued education, nurses and other healthcare workers can better provide quality care and add to the advancement of healthcare.

#ceu #continuingeducation