Tell me about continuing education credits

[JeanettePNP, MSN, RN, NP]

I'm a new grad and we were never told anything about CE's during school. So please help me out here...

What, exactly, are continuing education credits used for? Are they a requirement for your job? For renewing your license? How do you know how many CE credits you need, and in what topics? Is there some central database where you keep track of all your CE's? Or do you just file away all your CE certificates? When and where are you asked to show them? Do you put CE's on a resume? How would you list them?

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

CE's are required to keep your license active and valid. Each state varies as to how many you need and in what time frame. Refer to your BON.

In my state, you are only required to present proof of CE's if you are randomly selected to do so, or if you are changing your license from inactive or delinquent to active. I'm sure this is also state dependent.

I keep my CE's in a file with all nursing license paperwork.

The only CE I list on my resume is ACLS certification. ACLS only counts as a CE in my state the first time (renewal is not considered continuing education).

My job requires ACLS. Others may require only BLS, while others want PALS. Telemetry units may want you to take and pass a class on EKG interpretation. It just depends on your facility and your specialty.

[JeanettePNP, MSN, RN, NP]

Hm... apparently all we need is infection control and child abuse, both of which were covered in the nursing school curriculum.

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

My state requires 30 CEUs every two years for licensure renewal but we only have to show proof of CEUs if we're audited. The only CEUs that go on my resume right now are the ones that are also certifications (ACLS, PALS, etc).

In order to have accreditation as a trauma center, nurses in trauma receiving units have to have a certain number of trauma CEUs per year (I think it's 8?), so my hospital requires (and provides) trauma CEUs in certain units. Since I work on one of these units I have to make sure my CEUs have at least 8 hours in trauma per year. Other than that, as a new grad a lot of my training classes come with CEUs so I'm actually already at 30 hours of CEUs in 4 months of working.

I keep my paper certificates in a file and my hospital has some online learning requirements so some of my CEUs from them show up on my hospital website. No central location.

I'm a member of both the ENA and the AACN, and their journals all offer CEUs (AACN is the best deal as the CEUs are FREE to AACN members; ENA's CEUs are still expensive for members imo), plus STTI journals have CEUs, and there are a bunch of websites that offer free CEUs. I think once my year of intense orientation is up I'll probably pick CEUs based on what is relevant to my specialty and free.

[noahsmama]

Here's a list of CE requirements by state:

http://ce.nurse.com/RStateReqmnt.aspx

(don't know how accurate this is -- best bet is still to contact your own state's BRN to be sure you know what the requirements are for your state)

Must say I was quite surprised how different the requirements are from one state to the next. I live in CA, where I need to do 30 CEU's every 2 years.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Hm... apparently all we need is infection control and child abuse, both of which were covered in the nursing school curriculum.

That doesn't seem likely. Are you referring to your state requirements or facility requirements?

What state are you in?

EDIT: after reviewing the link above posted by noahsmom, I am shocked to find out that there are several states which have no CE requirement. That's pretty amazing to me. There is always something new to learn, things which we need to stay on top of to keep our practice current and safe. Even my husband is required to get continuing ed, and he is licensed in a profession in which it would be basically impossible to accidentally kill someone!

[realnursealso/LPN, LPN]

Hm... apparently all we need is infection control and child abuse, both of which were covered in the nursing school curriculum.

Are you in New York State? If you are, you are correct. Those are the only two required. And Horseshoe, I've been a nurse over 30 years, never killed anyone yet.....lol, and if I were that bad, CEU's wouldn't help:yeah:

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Are you in New York State? If you are, you are correct. Those are the only two required. And Horseshoe, I've been a nurse over 30 years, never killed anyone yet.....lol, and if I were that bad, CEU's wouldn't help:yeah:

Oh my gosh, did I say if you don't get your CE's you will kill someone?

Ummm, nope.:)

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

My state does not require them. Even though I am not required I do them I go online and do Pearls about 2 times a week. What my state does is if you haven't been working they can challenge you to take a review of their choice. I agree with this; after all if you're working your learning and maintaining knowledge but to be required to also do the EC seems too much to me if you're already working full time.

Many of the places do inservices; I believe that would count even though it's not required.

The PearlsReview has anything and everything on nursing and I like the way they have it set up plus the cost is not so bad IMO.

[llg, PhD, RN]

EDIT: after reviewing the link above posted by noahsmom, I am shocked to find out that there are several states which have no CE requirement. That's pretty amazing to me. There is always something new to learn, things which we need to stay on top of to keep our practice current and safe. Even my husband is required to get continuing ed, and he is licensed in a profession in which it would be basically impossible to accidentally kill someone!

I've been involved in this debate for years. There is little evidence that CEU's improve the quality of care provided. A person can get CEU's so easily that many are meaningless. People sleep in the back of classrooms, share answers on the mail post-tests in journals, etc. without ever actually learning anything. Other people get their CEU's by taking classes that have nothing to do with their jobs -- and that don't help them do their jobs any better.

The role of the State Board is to protect the public from unsafe practitioners. Many people believe that since there is not a strong direct link between getting some CEU's and actual practice, state boards should not require that nurses get CEU's. These pepole believe that the government should only have such requirements if research has shown that the requirements actually result in better patient care.

In other words, if a NICU nurse goes to a CE program on geriatrics ... or new medications used for cancer ... etc. it's not going to help her practice enough to justify the state requiring it. Also, as long as CEU's are so easy to get -- and don't require evidence of actualy learning -- there will also be doubts as to whether or not they are worth the cost. Yes, learning new things is good -- but CEU's have far less connection with actual learning than the average person thinks.

[nurse.sandi]

You need to vist your BON.

[nurse.sandi]

The state I live in requires one ceu of pain management. The other 24 are our discretion.