Where to go for continuing education?

[Decisions7]

I need to get started with my continuing education but I am not sure how, I was wondering if I could get some advice on this.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

I prefer my specialty organization’s offerings as they are relevant to my practice area. 

Medscape is one I see used frequently- account required but I believe they have free offerings. 

See what your employer has set up- mine has an arrangement with CE Direct where all nurses can have an account set up with free access. 

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

Most employers do their own required annual educations. Ask the person responsible for tracking that in your organization where you stand and request a printout for your records. If you need more hours of CEU's to meet your state's requirements employers usually also offer continuing education courses beyond the mandatory annual classes that are free for employees. 

You can also look at offerings through various nurse organizations and Medscape for CEU classes. There's a lot of free CEU classes you can take online if you want to go looking.

[HiddencatBSN, BSN]

Your job probably offers you access to CINAHL’s Nursing Reference Center for free CEUs. I’ve honestly never been too impressed with their quality but they’re fast and free CEUs if you’re in a time crunch. Also there are tons of sites that offer free CEUs if you Google.

I’m in the ENA and they offer CEUs online and in the journal but they’re expensive so I have never used them for official CEUs.

Agree to check with your employer- not all mandatory education will offer CEUs but some will and there should be a way for you to access that to see certs. Things like PALS, ACLS, etc will come with CEUs. If your state has specific mandatory education like child abuse or infection prevention, there are many sites that offer that for a fee or free.

You can also look to see if your specialty offers conferences, specialized training classes, etc. With covid a lot of stuff is canceled or virtual. Also if your hospital does grand rounds those usually give you CEUs as well. 

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

2 hours ago, HiddencatBSN said:

Agree to check with your employer- not all mandatory education will offer CEUs but some will and there should be a way for you to access that to see certs. Things like PALS, ACLS, etc will come with CEUs.

Not necessarily. My state specifies that if it is required by the employer, it may not be eligible for CEUs. I have to complete roughly 40 modules online every year. Not a single one of them comes with CEUs. We also are not provided CEUs for life support certifications.

[HiddencatBSN, BSN]

4 minutes ago, Rose_Queen said:

Not necessarily. My state specifies that if it is required by the employer, it may not be eligible for CEUs. I have to complete roughly 40 modules online every year. Not a single one of them comes with CEUs. We also are not provided CEUs for life support certifications.

What state doesn’t accept CEUs for ACLS?

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

1 hour ago, HiddencatBSN said:

What state doesn’t accept CEUs for ACLS?

Quote

Advanced lifesaving courses such as ACLS, PALS and NRP are accepted by most states for the initial course and certification, but only a very few states such as Texas accept renewal courses for continuing education credit. Always check with your State BON. Vendors will issue often certificates that can be used if the BON accepts them, but this is not a guarantee that they will be counted. It can be confusing to students who think they will receive credit. 

https://www.nursingce.com/blog/activities-that-don't-count-for-nursing-continuing-education/

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

we have free access to CE Direct as well.