Nursing Certs: CEU's, Contact Hours, Credit Hours...

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Specializes in Med/Surg/Onc, LTAC.

Hi everyone,

I'm looking into getting certified (Pain Management) and I have some questions on qualifications to sit for the exam...

It says on the application you need "30 Continuing Education Hours" to sit for the exam.

1 CEU = 10 contact hours, but now how many CEU's are are in the above "continuing education hours"

If the 30 Continuing Education Hours are 30 CEU's, then most education opportunities online are a few "contact hours or credit hours" so for example a class can be 0.5 CEU's???

How on EARTH do you obtain 30 CEU's????

I'd LOVE to assume a class that is 5-10 contact hours is equal to 5-10 "continuing education hours", but I can't find out by searching if that is the case... The terms are so close but so different than the application, that I don't want to spend the time to do a million classes for THAT many contact hours.

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Specializes in Home Health.

I have wondered the SAME thing for the SAME reason! So frustrating. Hope someone can tell us!

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Specializes in Med/Surg/Onc, LTAC.

I know there are a lot of certified nurses out there, who must have figured this one out :)

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Specializes in Home Care, Peds, Public Health, DD Health.

i took a vent and trach class - you had to read and study the books before and KNOW it- big books - it was a full two days and was 12 CEUS and I took an IV class also had to study the book and KNOW the materials and do actual IV and venipuncture and once you were successful you got the certificate with 6 CEU's and it was expensive and all day. But worth it and part of my job. Hope this helps!

angels mommy

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Specializes in Home Care, Peds, Public Health, DD Health.

oh and I guess I should also let you know, you didnt get the vent/trach cue's until you did trach changes on actual patients...that might make a difference for some people!

angels mommy:uhoh3:

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Specializes in Peds Sub-acute/home health.

Western schools to continuing education has CEU courses that are up to 30 hours (required to renew license) I had to watch "mandatory videos" for my home care agency, took up a couple hours of my day and ONLY recieved 0.5 CEU hours credit !

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