should ok require nurses to have CEU's

dottimur · Dec 22, 2006

I personally think it is a good idea.

Goodoldnurse · Dec 22, 2006

CEU's might encourage those who do not attend continuing ed. Many want to gain knowledge about our profession, and having this requirement might spur those who have not. It would probably increase the cost of renewal, having to track them. So is a 2-edged sword!:smilecoffeeIlovecof

teebee · Dec 26, 2006

I think so - many/most other licensed health care professionals are required to have so many CE credits per year for licensure renewal - I was surprised to learn that this was not required of nurses as well.

deidrasue · Aug 25, 2007

I would vote an unqualified yes. Here we are struggling for respect and recognition as a profession but we don't, as a profession, require continued growth in our members?

Since I work in a state psych facility it's really "in my face". All other professionals in my field are required to accrue continuing education hours - and are paid while they are on educational leave. I'm talking about psychiatrists, social workers, LADC, LPCs - even the social services specialists. We have Recovery Support Specialists that work for the department whose only claim to fame is having an addiction yet they go to training all the time and are awarded certificates by ODMHSAS for doing it. However, as a Registered Nurse, with a BSN, I am neither required to attend educational offerings nor paid when I do it on my own (which I do) unless I want to request vacation time to attend. And all the other disciplines know this. It's a freaking embarrassment. Just one more reason for nursing to not be respected by the state of Oklahoma and most particularly by the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. We all know we are working for ODMHSAS only because JCAHO requires the department to have us on staff - and the other disciplines are not licensed to give meds. :nono:

I wonder how nursing is treated in other state Mental Health facilities.

MAHNA 214

marilynmom, LPN, NP · Aug 28, 2007

Absolutely yes!!

Even though it is not required by the state, I work for OU Med Center and the unit I work on requires us to do CE's every month....we have one case study and one drug study. So that is good at least.

Daye · Oct 7, 2007

I am doing a paper for one of my nursing classes, and the topic is "Should the state of OK require nurses to have CEU's for licensure renewal?" I would like for some of the OK nurses to give me some input on this... Thanks:)

IMO Yes

elkpark · Oct 7, 2007

I am not an OK nurse, but I do have an opinion (and some experience) on this subject -- I remember when I was growing up, my father, an MD, talking about the new (at that time) requirement in our home state that MDs have a certain # of continuing ed credits for license renewal. His comment at the time was that the requirement was pointless because the MDs who care about staying informed & current and moving ahead professionally will do so, whether it is required of them or not, and, for the MDs who didn't care about doing so, having a cont ed requirement wouldn't change their attitude and they would simply find the easiest way to meet the requirement on paper. Fast forward many years; I end up an RN and, after practicing for many years in a state with no CE requirement for RNs, I move to state that does have a requirement for licensure renewal. It was no hardship for me, since I have been active in professional organizations & activities throughout my career, and have always earned more CE credits in a year than my new state required, but I remembered what Dad used to say about requiring CE credits, and was v. interested in seeing how it played out in real life. Well, what I observed was exactly what Dad had said. The requirement worked out to 12 hours per year; every hospital in my community (and I assume the same was true elsewhere in the state) offered a 1-hour inservice each month (multiple times, on all shifts, to make it as easy as possible for any nurse who wanted to to attend). Most of the nurses would simply go to the 1-hour inservice (on the clock) and get their little credit each month, regardless of whether the topic had anything whatsoever to do with their area of practice and, hey presto! Requirement for license renewal met! I went to some of the in-house inservices early one (the ones on topics that applied to me) and you would see many of the attendees reading magazines, books, etc. or engaged in some other activity that made it clear they weren't even listening, but no one really cared about that (since it was all about going through the motions anyway). Meanwhile, the nurses who were actually committed to staying current in our fields and expanding our skills and understanding continued to go to the "real" continuing education offerings, professional conferences & conventions, etc., that we had been attending even before we were required to.

So, call me a cynic, but my opinion is that having a CE requirement is an empty gesture that accomplishes little. The emperor ain't wearing much ...