CE credits

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in Oncology, Med-Surgical.

Hi everyone!

I'm trying to get some information regarding continuing education. I'm not sure how this actually works. Some sites offer free credits. Some you have to pay for. Is there any particular ones I should be doing as a new grad or does it matter? And where is this kept track of, or do I just mention it to future employers or is it just for my own personal benefit? I've heard that we are supposed to keep up to date with things and continue our education and learning this way, but wasn't sure how to go about it....

Any ideas?

Thanks!!!!!

Specializes in Everything except surgery.

Hi Amy

The sites I go to...do keep up with the CEUs you take. They also send me confirmation emails for what credits I have earned. Springhouse has a program where you get $2.00 off for participating in their program. But since I'm cheap in some respects, and always looking fora bargain...I tried to take as many free ones as I can find. But many times...the free ones aren't the ones you interested in. But the CDC has a grant that allows them to give free CEUs out...and many of theirs is about diseases such as TB...and imminizations...and things along that line. But well worth it to check out.

Here are some of the sites I use:

http://www.nurseceu.com/ - They have links to RNCEUS.com and they have a special going on this month for $3.00/per contact hr.!

Excellent variety of CEUs offered!

http://www.springnet.com/ce/cecat.htm - this is Springnets CEU connections - costs more

http://nursingmatters.com/ - offering 2 free ceus on V-fib and prints out on the spot certifcate.

And this is the CDC's site for CEUs

http://www2.cdc.gov/ce/availableactivities.asp

Many hospitals have funds for their own employees to take CEUs or courses/seminars offered. So check it out with your nurse manager.

Hope this helps...:cool:

Specializes in peds, office nurse and long term care fa.

I have gone through http://www.medceu.com for some of my continuing eduation credits. It's easy and after you pass the exam, you get a printed certificate showing you passed the course.:roll

At least in MI the CE credits do not have to be turned into anyone. You just keep record of them yourself and the state does random audits. Most web sites have an area where you print out your certificate of completion and that's your proof. Some sites also keep a record of the courses you have taken.

Here are some sites for free ceus I have found...

http://www,medi-smart.com/freeceu http://www.wirldiris.com http://www.allnurses.com

Specializes in Oncology, Med-Surgical.

Thanks everyone for the advice on continuing education credits!

I have bookmarked the various sites and hope to find some good ones.

Thanks again~

Greetings, all. I'm new here (tonight!).

I'm looking for CEUs *not* on line. I like the feel of a book, and the scratching of a pencil. (I am a computer programmer hoping to return to nursing--inactive license at present. I want to avoid sitting in front of a computer for even more hours a day.)

I posted a similar message in another thread. Apologies for the repetition, but I'm hoping to reach more people this way. So: anyone out there know of companies providing *printed* CEU courses? (Money no object... within reason!)

Thanks!

MRH

Specializes in Med-Surg.

Hi mrh1953

I don't like reading long courses on the computer either, so I printed them out and made my own notebook of courses.

Since I got the CE courses FREE on line, I didn't mind the printer ink/paper expense.

try; http://www.Baxter.com

They have some great pain management and IV therapy courses for FREE!!!

The quiz after the course was not hard, yet it tested me on new knowledge gained from the course. I really felt like I learned something.

Did I mention it was FREE?!!

i don't know why, but the alabama board of nursing web site's continuing education page says they are no longer accepting ceus from medceu . they give a phone number and contact person to call to ask questions about this change...

alabama requires 24 hours ceu's (1/2 or more must be "classroom" learning rather than self-study ceus).

now i'll speak to the off-line (book/journal/module) ceu point:

i also like the feel of a book and scratch of a pencil. i am a member of two nursing associations (national association of neonatal nurses and academy of neonatal nursing), each of which has journals which often include ceu offerings. being a member, the prices are less for me than a non-member.

my most favorite place to obtain ceus is ncc (national certification center) where i received my certification in intensive care nursery nursing. i'm able to use their ceus to keep my rnc (specialty certification) active--- we renew it every 3 years. they have a continuing education program of self-learning modules where if you use 3 of their modules (15 ceus each) your certification maintenance renewal is $50 instead of $100. using 1 module toward the certification renewal requirement drops the price from $100 to $70 and if you use 2 its about $60. the modules are a bit expensive but some come with books... the others come with several published journal articles. i find them to be very educational and completely relavent to my specialty area.

ncc also certifies nurses in many other specialties, mostly relating to the maternal-child division areas (high risk inpatient obstetric nursing, low risk obstetric, neonatal nurse practitioner, intensive care nursery nurse, mother-baby, low risk neonatal, telephone triage, breastfeeding, external fetal monitoring, etc.)

anyway, i'd imagine lots of other certifying organizations as well as nursing organizations that have journals with a focus on other nursing areas would have similar set ups.

i like to obtain ceus from regular med/surg journals and other areas to keep abreast of changes. boy a nurse sure can get behind quickly if we don't keep up with things regularly! i like to go to our hospital library and read the journals there. i can also make a xerox copy of the answer sheet and then mail it in with the payment. it's a bit more expensive since i'm not a member of an organization that publishes these other journals but that's ok with me...

i also like attending ceu seminars and workshops once in a while for networking and just hanging out with old and meeting new people.

here's to keeping current! somehow it's more fun to study and learn when we are not in class in a situation where we have to study!:chuckle

ncc web site

nann web site

ann (neonatal network journal) web site

warmly,

anaclaire

Free CEU directorY:

http://medi-smart.com/freeceu.htm

Thanks to all you guys for the great on-line sites. Working in Saudi Arabia, it's just what I need.

Specializes in NICU.
http://www.emedicine.com has your first 1.5 hours (basically,your first ceu article and quiz) for free after you sign up for free access, and each additional course is only $7.50 apiece. Great, thorough articles, and sign-up is worth it even without the ceu's, because the site has EVERYTHING you need to know. I constantly use it at work to look up illnesses, etc.

Hi, Boggle--

I appreciated your response to my question about CEUs on paper (as opposed to on-line).

Last evening I tried printing out the text of a study course (Nursing Spectrum's ALS update) and earned a (free) contact hour. I didn't mind taking the test on line since I had the printout right in front of me, all marked up with comments and underlines.

It seemed to work as smoothly as doing the same process by snailmail. Thanks for the nudge.

'mrh1953'

Margaret

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