Are CEU's Important?

Nurses General Nursing

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I just renewed my California license. On the back of the form was a box to be checked "if you have completed 30 CEU's". WELL, DUH YA. I checked the box and mailed the money.

Just like that I r a Nurz agin.

Previously when we renewed we would have to document date, class, provider number and number of units awarded. Actually, in the past not only did the curriculum have to be approved by the board but also the physical setting had to be up to standards, including the number of doors and desks.

Now all I have to do is check a box? And its gets better. I also have an Idaho license, and that state doesn't require any CEU's. Idaho is a Compact State, which means I can practice in six other states without any transfer of a license. They also must have no CEU requirement.

Now I know that NTI will disseminate a large volume of good information. Conventions such as these keep nurses, and MD's, updated with the latest theory, practices, and procedures. And that those CEU's will definitively be for continuing education.

Recently I received a booklet from my professional organization. It was written on cheap newspaper quality paper. The contents were the text of several courses, along with the answers to the posttest for so that I could evaluate my answers. There was that little box again 'check if you read the course'. All that was left was to mail the money.

The CEU market has become very diluted. I, and probably you, receive information frequently about 30 unit classes for $29 - $59. The worst part of the situation is that these texts are written at a Jr. High to High School level, and accepted as professional education by the Board of Nursing.

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There are plenty of resources that give free CEUs, including (I'm betting) your facility.

http://www.medscape.com/nurses/ce

Just check to see if your state accepts the provider.

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Most BON ask if you have completed the # CEUs required to be re-licensed, but do not require that you provide proof.

If one just checks the box w/o actually completing the CEUs, that is falsified (no, I am not saying the OP did this - just to make a point here).

If a nurse is ever audited by the BON, the nurse will have to provide proof of the CEUs, so it is vital the proof is kept on record by the nurse. Random audits occur and we never know who will be audited to provide the proof.

In this day and age, it's too easy to get the CEUs. As Emmanuel G. pointed out, Medscape is a good source that's accepted by most if not all, BON. And, it's free. Great educational and quality source.

There are still some BON that do not require CEU for relicensure.

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In my state, you don't have to submit the documentation of your continuing education with your license renewal, just certify on the application that you have completed the required education (as with, apparently, the CA application) -- however, the BON then picks a random sample of nurses to audit and those nurses do have to produce the documentation. So there's always a chance that you will get caught if you fudge on the application ... I'm sure the other states are doing the same thing.

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Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

Definitely, in Texas, you can be audited. That is made perfectly clear. This has been the policy here as long as I've had a Texas license. I've never known a nurse who didn't take the possibility of audit seriously. I've seen lots scramble the last month or two to get the required CEUs.

Since I have a certification to maintain, I keep a file of all continuing education I get because I do have to send in a complete list to the certifying body.

I'm licensed in Georgia as well as in Texas. Georgia doesn't require continuing education.

Frankly I'm surprised that any state board ever required detailed documentation of continuing education. I would think that keeping up with that would be pretty time and labor intensive.

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Specializes in Home Care, Hospice, OB.

scary to add, virginia does not require any ceu's!!!:eek:

this was a shock after needing 1 ceu for each month of license term (2 or 3 years) in florida.:weathersunsmall:

any other states that don"t have ceu's?????

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

TN does not require CEUs either.

Edited to add: As long as you are still working at least a certain # hours a week. If not, you can use CEUs to maintain your license (I think; someone correct me if I am wrong...)

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

I support the Virginia Board of Nursing's decision to not require CEU's. There is no evidence that states the require them provide better care than those that don't. Until that evidence is clear, it would not be right to require them. The role of government regulation is to protect the public's safety -- and until the evidence exists that shows that mandatory CEU's do that, the State Board has no business requiring them. A lot of experts agree with my position, which explains why so many states do not require them.

I've been around the nursing (and the nursing staff development) business a long time. Many, many CEU's are granted to participants who didn't learn a thing from the program -- and will have no improvements in their practice because of that educational program. People cheat. They skip out of conferences early to go sightseeing. They share answers on self-study modules. etc. etc. etc. The system is so full of holes, it is totally non-trustworthy. That's another reason not to make them mandatory.

There are better ways to protect the public than by encouraging the current broken system of CEU's.

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I support the Virginia Board of Nursing's decision to not require CEU's. There is no evidence that states the require them provide better care than those that don't. Until that evidence is clear, it would not be right to require them. The role of government regulation is to protect the public's safety -- and until the evidence exists that shows that mandatory CEU's do that, the State Board has no business requiring them. A lot of experts agree with my position, which explains why so many states do not require them.

I've been around the nursing (and the nursing staff development) business a long time. Many, many CEU's are granted to participants who didn't learn a thing from the program -- and will have no improvements in their practice because of that educational program. People cheat. They skip out of conferences early to go sightseeing. They share answers on self-study modules. etc. etc. etc. The system is so full of holes, it is totally non-trustworthy. That's another reason not to make them mandatory.

There are better ways to protect the public than by encouraging the current broken system of CEU's.

I couldn't agree more. I remember when the state in which I grew up was going to start requiring annual CMEs for physicians, and my father (who was an MD) commenting that it wouldn't accomplish anything -- people who were sincerely interested in staying current and informed in their practices would do so whether it was required or not, and the people who weren't interested would find the path of least resistance around the requirement.

A few decades later, after practicing as an RN in a state that didn't require CEUs for license renewal, I moved to a state that did. I remembered what my father had said on the subject, and was v. interested in seeing how the mandatory CEU issue worked in my new state. What I found was exactly what my father had predicted. The BON required 24 hours of CEUs to renew your license every two years -- and the hospitals at which I worked (and, I'm sure, nearly every other hospital in the state) offered a 1 hour inservice (with CEU credit) each month and offered each inservice on a few different dates, on all shifts, so the all the nurses could attend on their working hours. Many of the hospital nurses showed up and sat through the inservice every month, even when it was a topic that had nothing to do with their specialty/practice, and got their one hour CEU for the month. Many of them read magazines, worked on crossword puzzles, chatted with friends, etc., during the inservice (obviously paying no attention at all), but they got their 1 hour, and had enough hours accumulated when it was time to renew their licenses. So, the hospitals provided their staff nurses with a free. painless, meaningless way to meet the BON requirement and maintain their licensure, while those of us who sought out new learning opportunities, were active in professional organizations, attended conferences (at our own expense), etc., continued to do so, regardless of whether we were required to or not ...

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. IMHO, requirements for continuing education accomplish nothing. They can't make people be interested in professional growth and development -- those people who aren't will find the "path of least resistance" around the requirement.

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Wisconsin does not require CEUs at this time although it is under debate to change now.

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Specializes in neuro, ICU/CCU, tropical medicine.
any other states that don"t have ceu's?????

washington.

i'm a certified neuroscience registered nurse (cnrn), so i'm required to complete 100 hours of ce every 5 years, 50 of which must be specific to neuroscience nursing - those are often hard to find anywhere but the annual aann meetings. i'm going to nashville next week.

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