How to Verify Florida Approved CEU Providers?

[panman]

I searched the Florida board of nursing site, google, ANCC, and nursing blogs and could find no list of Florida board approved ceu providers. I did see accounts on nursing forums of ceu providers falsely claiming to be board approved, no shock there (where there's a will there's a buck). I finally emailed the board of nursing before investing my time let alone money. I received a prompt response from Serina McGlockton, was referred the to cue broker CE Broker and this is what I found out.

Provider verification is handled through the CE broker not the Florida board of nursing.

Once into the ce broker site (Bing/Google it): click on quick links Florida course (left side page) > choose profession > select advance search (bottom left) > select option desired (you need the Florida provider number [50-????] to verify the provider) > input appropriate data.

According to the CE broker rep I spoke with, although approval is course by course - if the Florida board approves a provider, all their ceu courses are accepted even if the course may not be listed on the CE broker site, which many are not.

Florida ceu requirements from Florida board site:

All Florida-licensed RN's and LPNs are now in a 24-month renewal cycle and must complete 24 hours of appropriate continuing education during each renewal period:

One (1) contact hour is required for each calendar month of the licensure cycle, including two (2) hours on Prevention of Medical Errors.

HIV/AIDS is now a one-time, 1-hour CE requirement to be completed prior to the first renewal.

Domestic Violence CE is now a 2-hour requirement every third renewal. This two-hour DV course is in addition to the required 24 hours of general CE

Domestic Violence:Section 456.031, Florida Statutes was revised in 2006 to require the two-hour domestic violence (DV) course be taken as part of every third biennial re-licensure or re-certification.

This means:

If you were already licensed in 2006, the DV requirement is due within 6 years (2012) and then every 6 years thereafter

If you were licensed in 2007 or after, the DV requirement is due within 6 years of the licensure date and every 6 years thereafter

The following materials are also considered for Florida ceus (I have no clue about verifying approval for these):

Nursing practice areas and special health care problems.

Biological, physical, behavioral, and social sciences.

Legal aspects of health care.

Management/administration of health care personnel and patient care.

Teaching/learning process of health care personnel and patients.

Subjects at an accredited education institution that are taken and are advanced beyond that completed for original licensure.

Personal development subject matter, must include application of content as it relates to improved patient care.

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*Useful notes for Florida

So every third cycle you need 26 not 24 credits. I chose ceuprofessor.com cause they had a package deal that suited me and it turned out to be pretty user friendly. Couple days and I was done and I think they're forwarded to the board as soon as you pass each test.

Another spin you might run into is that when I input the Florida board number from the ceuprofessor site, it didn't pull up ceuprofessor as the provider but Magellan Group LLC with no mention of cueprofessor nor did the ceuprofessor site mention Magellan upfront - but a google search connected the two and Cebroker verified as much. Once you've passed a course the Megellan Group does show up on your completed ceu page.

Yet another spin is that the ceu professor site offers an option that conveniently breaks down courses into categories, one of them being Florida mandated courses. However, they list 14 mandated courses while only 3 are mandated by the Florida board - Hiv, domestic violence, and medication errors.

Hope this post saves one nurse the hours it took me to figure things out.

[panman]

Forgot,

I got the ceu professor Florida provider number from their site - they had a link for it. So I assume other ceu providers do the same.

[bsolano514]

CE Broker also provides a service for Florida licensees that clearly outlines the CE Requirements, including the DV requirement. Since they are the Florida Dept of Health's official CE tracking system, it allows you to view your official transcript. You can verify that courses you have taken have been posted to your course history and if you are selected for audit and your transcript is complete in CE Broker, you automatically pass the continuing education audit and will not receive an audit letter.

Theres a free trial here...

https://www.cebroker.com/public/pb_lic_app_subscription_dtl.asp?hsection=TRIAL&hIdCebrokerState=1

Brian

[panman]

Yeh,

in recall, either on the ce broker or ceu professor site they state you won't be audited cause you're CEUS are input into the data bank as they're completed so once you've obtained your 24/26 credits per time frame you're cleared - which makes sense. Why audit someone who's demonstrated up front they're already complaint.

Either way, you shouldn't hear from the board once you've completed your ceus if they're automatically reported to ce broker.

[panman]

Here's some corrective, useful, and time/money saving info off the ceu professor site (FAQ).

First the corrective:

NOTE: Reporting to CE Broker takes place within 5 days following the end of the month. For example, for courses completed in the month of July, reporting will be completed by August 5th. Please know that Florida actually allows us 90 days after the course completion dates to complete the reporting. Also, Florida does not rely on the information in the CE Broker system when it comes to your license renewal.

Next the useful:

Every state has different procedures for reporting the successful completion of continuing education requirements. Please contact your board for their specific procedures.

We are State Board approved. Nursing boards in all 50 states and the District of Columbia accept our courses....However, because we are a provider approved by Florida and District of Columbia, we do not have the ability to report the successful completion of CEUs by nurses of other states to their specific state nursing boards.

Lastly the time/money saving (you probably wouldn't want to end up taking 24 ceus instead of 24 contact hours).

CEU and Contact Hour are two ways to measure the time it takes to complete a course. No matter which method is used, all of CEU Professor's courses will satisfy the requirement. One CEU is equal to 10 Contact Hours. Generally a nurse's continuing education requirement is measured in Contact Hours. For example, your state nursing board may require you to take 30 Contact Hours every 2 years. However, your state nursing board may require you to take 3 CEUs. The 3 CEUs is equal to 30 Contact Hours. Whichever way it is measured, you will still be taking the same number of courses.