[powernurse]

Does anyone know who certifies CEU courses. For instance we have an inservice tonight from a wound care supply company and they are offering "FREE" CEU's. What is the process they go through in order to deem them CEU worthy when so many of our inservices or lunches are not offering CEU's ? Any comments at all on this process and if there is a governing board for CEU education would be most helpful. Thank you in advance.

[nizhoni]

Generally your state's Board of Registered Nursing has a mechanism for becoming a CEU provider. In one state in which I lived, we organized a one-time-only conference and didn't want to go through the brain damage of becoming CEU providers for that single event, so we asked an organization that regularly provided CEUs to partner with us. Our nurse participants were able to get their contact hours for continuing ed and we didn't have to go through the expense of becoming CEU providers for something we were only doing x1.

[RN Educator]

Companies that offer FREE ce have to go through the same process as nursing organizations and universities that provide nursing credit. The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) (ihttp://www.nursingworld.org/ancc/ )s the primary body and authority on nursing continuing education. You need to look at the credentialing statement on your ce certificate to see who is the provider of the ce credit. You should contact your state board of nursing if you feel the program might not satisfy your state's requirement for ce and licensure.