Continuing education, more than a professional requirement, is aimed at improving overall knowledge and career prospects of the nurses. The most common types of continuing education for nurses include:
– Professional development activities
– State mandated nurse continuing education
– Annual healthcare employee requirements
Why is continuing education necessary?
– Professional requirement: Many of the state boards of nursing require continuing education hours for license renewal. Nurses are required to complete a certain number of hours, in specific or open courses, to get their license renewed.
– Professional Validation: As a way to validate clinical competence and education, many employers require nurses to complete specific courses.
– Quality Care: Continuing education helps in staying current in evidence-based practices to assist nurses in providing safe and quality patient care.
– Promotion: As every course adds to your knowledge and skills, it helps in landing a promotion or a coveted position.
– Minimize legal risks: Staying up-to-date is a mandatory requirement for the nurses. Failing to do so can have serious consequences. CCE continuing nursing education helps them keep their practice current and minimize potential legal ramifications.
– Improved pay: Many organizations consider continuing education in their performance evaluations and appraisal process.
Problems associated with continuing nursing education
A robust job market with rising vacancies due to lack of quality employees has resulted in increased admissions in continuing education. But there are a few dark spots in the continuing education sector that have demotivated nurses from enthusiastically participating in them, which are :
-As opposed to an exciting learning opportunity, continuing education still remains, in most places, a requirement for most nurses.
-In most employment spaces, nurses do not have control over the courses that are mandated for them.
-In such conditions, the course completion becomes more of a homework rather than a learning experience.
-Lack of exciting courses and traditional delivery format, which is a reality in most places, is a demotivating factor.
Solutions
-A deeper understanding of the benefits of continuing education can help develop an interest in the courses.
-The nurses need to search for places that have developed newer and exciting approach to such courses in order to really enjoy the learning. Many continuing education courses for nurses in Canada have this quality as they have developed a new approach to the whole process that allows a rejuvenated educational experience and thus is of supreme importance to nurses.
Bottom line: Continuing education is a necessity for nurses. With a positive mindset, better understanding of benefits, and an enhanced search for better centers for continuing education, they can improve their knowledge base and expand career opportunities.
