|
Home / Culture and Society / Education
Nursing Continuing Education For the 21st Century
By:Sara Ellis RN, BSN
One need only to scan a newspaper or read a weekly magazine to be astounded by the number of stories about new medical breakthroughs, disease processes, emerging threats of disease, or innovations in medical and health care technology. The World Health Organization warns us to prepare for a potential worldwide Bird Flu epidemic, terrorists threaten us with chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and new protocols for ACLS are released. How is a working nurse to keep up?
Nursing education provides the basic building blocks of medical, scientific, and nursing knowledge, but competence in the nursing profession requires an ongoing process of continuing education. Continuing education for nurses is necessary for the nurse to remain up to date with the latest practice issues and it is necessary for patient's safety as well. Some states have made continuing education for nurses mandatory and require a certain number of course credit hours be attained before license renewal, or require certain mandatory course subjects, while other states leave it to the nursing professional themselves to accept a personal responsibility for their own continued learning. Regardless of whether nursing continuing education, or Nursing CEUS as such programs are commonly referred to, are mandatory in one's state or not, all nurses who describe themselves as professionals need to be willing and ready to implement change in their own practice by realizing that competence in any profession requires periodic updating.
Methods of obtaining nursing continuing education hours and the pro's and con's of each:
1. Professional Journals: Most professional nursing journals offer an article for continuing education credit. Some offer a partial credit hour or one credit hour to readers who fill out a post test after reading the article and mail it in. While some journals offer the credit for free, others charge $10 or more and in addition to the inconvenience of needing to tear out a post test form and mail it in the nurse has no official record of having taken and passed the course. Obtaining continuing education hours through professional journals is costly and inefficient in that the cost of the journal itself must be taken into consideration along with the cost of the course if there is one, and the time and expense of mailing in addition to the lack of official record of completion and lack of central maintenance of all credits accumulated by the nurse. Additionally, nurses who rely on professional journals for their CEU hours are typically only exposed to courses related to their own specialty rather than a broader range of topics that they actually need to be exposed to in today's ever evolving health care climate.
2. Seminars: Professional development programs and seminars that offer accredited continuing education hours for nurses are frequently offered at various locations in every state, in some foreign countries, and even on cruises. Employers frequently pay the registration fees for nurses to attend local seminars of short duration such as one day, but nurses still have to sacrifice their precious day off to attend them or lose time from work to do so. In addition nurses who attend seminars away from home have to pay their own travel expenses, hotel bills, and costs of meals. Needless to say cruises and foreign travel are an appealing avenue, but obtaining one's continuing education by that method is not something every working nurse can afford to do.
3. Online Nursing CEUS: The internet provides nurses access to extremely affordable and high quality accredited continuing education courses covering a plethora of professional nursing topics. Online nursing ceu courses are the gateway to nursing continuing education for the 21st century! Nurses who take advantage of online ceu courses are not restricted by geographical barriers, financial hardships, or the inconvenience of taking time from work or family in order to attend courses. Online nursing continuing education courses are readily available for both mandatory state required subjects, courses in one's own nursing specialty, and courses that all nurses regardless of practice specialty need to be familiarized with so nurses have access to a much broader choice of subject matters than they ever had before when restricted primarily to journals or seminars. In addition to those benefits, substantial as they are, online nursing ceu courses are inexpensive, up to date with changing trends, can be taken from the comfort of one's own home, generally allow nurses who take them to keep an official record of courses completed and credit hours earned online with the course provider, and allow nurses who complete a course to print the course certificate immediately upon completion.
In order to stay professional and to safeguard the wellbeing of the public nurses need to continue their education over the course of their career through a variety of means including taking continuing education courses. The most convenient and most cost effective method of nursing continuing education is by taking online Nursing CE courses. Online nursing continuing education courses are readily available, flexible, offer online tracking, and provide nurses with the broad scope of subjects they need to familiarize themselves with in order to keep up to date in today's ever changing health care climate. Online nursing continuing education is indeed the face of nursing continuing education for the 21st century!
Digg
del.icio.us
Blink
Stumble
Spurl
Reddit
Netscape
Furl
Article keywords: nursing ceus, nursing, nursing ce, nurse ce, nurse ceu, nursing education, nursing career, continuing education, continuing education for nurses, nurse, nurses, registered nurse
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com
Sara Ellis RN, BSN. Visit Medi-Smart Nursing Resources for accredited online nursing ceus, online nursing degrees, extensive clinical resources, active nursing forums, and nursing jobs .
|
|
| Top Education Articles |
|
|
- 2). Goku & Friends: The Invasion of Dragon Ball Z By : Dave Carter
Dragon Ball Z is an anime show that has gone from cult following to smash sensation in the United States. What started out as a cult following among high school and college students has spread to enjoy a more mainstream popularity among these younger groups, while continuing to expand through other demographics. A Japanese creation, this show in many ways opened the door for others to follow.
|
- 3). Intonation In English: Nouns And Adjectives Are Stressed Differently Than Verbs By : Frank Gerace
Listen and Learn: Nouns and Adjectives one way; Verbs another
Chinese has "tones" but all languages have their own special intonation. The "music" of a language is its intonation and it is perhaps the most important element of a correct accent.
A "ggod" accent is not only a question of good pronunciation. Many people think that pronunciation is what makes up an accent.
|
- 4). V3 Screen Printing By : Mike Pedretti
Everywhere around logos, designs and art shows up and comes out of the woodwork using a modernized version of an older technology. Screen printing is a helpful way to expose a company name and/or logo to the public. Screen printing originally started out using silk as a medium but has since moved on to using stretched porous, finely woven nylon or polyester fabrics, with carefully stenciled designs, and delightful creations take form and come to life.
|
- 5). The Challenges of teaching math today By : Robert D.
During my years of teaching I’ve been wondering what to do to improve math education. My own teaching philosophy is simple, but throughout the years it has proven to be effective. While the groups I have taught have been diverse, there are certain consistencies in their responses, particularly, students appreciate a clear and sound explanation of a difficult concept, and experience the greatest growth when they have the chance to express themselves by asking any questions they might have and feel comfortable in class.
|
- 6). How To Teach Art And Drama In Schools By : Simon Oliver
Let’s face it, arts and drama are considered extra-curricular activities when we think of what we expect to learn in school. In fact, arts and drama usually fall in line with extra-curricular activities, which are deemed by most as not as important as learning science, English or math. The indifference to arts and drama may have been brought about by the super high technology lifestyles that we lead.
|
- 7). Importance of Reading By : Tyler Benson
What is the best way to spend free time? There can be so many different answers to this question. That depends on the preferences of a person. If you are lively and active, you may spend time outdoors or doing sports, if you are sociable, you may enjoy holding a party and communicating with various interesting celebrities. Some of us get so tired of the noise than wait till a nice evening to tackle in and read a nice book to relax or to learn something new or to get to the new world of wonders and travel in it, forgetting about the reality.
|
|
|
- 9). Panj-aab: My brethren please listen to us. By : Dinesh singh
Where water (aab) is means name, language, land, arts and culture. There water makes merry go, that land is called Punjab. The land of five sisters
1. Beas (ancient name Vipasha)
2. Chenab(ancient name Askini,)
3. Jhelam (ancient name Vitasta)
4. Ravi (ancient name Irawati,)
5. satluj (ancient name Shatadru) All these five sisters take birth in high and hygiene Himalayas, and then play in open fields of Punjab, making this land of warriors full of joys.
|
- 10). These complicated graduate studies. By : Chris Wells
For every student, whether he is an undergraduate or graduate it is imperative, almost indispensable to turn to the help of other persons, to use their knowledge, skills and experience. Certainly, if you are working on your dissertation, it might be advisable to do the same. This dissertation help program should comprise several elements. The first element is the organizing of your dissertation.
|
| New Education Articles |
|
|
|
|
- 3). How To Memorize Words By : Michael Gabrikow
The following article will try to present some of these methods that could help you learn how to memorize words faster when learning a foreign language.
|
|
|
- 5). Getting Into Graduate School By : Lisa Parmley
The GRE General Test is the most widely accepted college admission exam for graduate school. This test strives to measure the knowledge that test takers have gained over long periods of time (like through their undergraduate programs).
|
- 6). The Challenges of teaching math today By : Robert D.
During my years of teaching I’ve been wondering what to do to improve math education. My own teaching philosophy is simple, but throughout the years it has proven to be effective. While the groups I have taught have been diverse, there are certain consistencies in their responses, particularly, students appreciate a clear and sound explanation of a difficult concept, and experience the greatest growth when they have the chance to express themselves by asking any questions they might have and feel comfortable in class.
|
- 7). The History of Crossword Puzzles By : Fran Black
The first book of crosswords was published in 1924. It became a best-seller and crosswords replaced mahjongg as the most popular American game. Crossword puzzle design and solving is an excellent way to sharpen focus. Regardless of whether design and or solve numerous crossword puzzles, you will learn one more way to enhance memory and creative expression.
|
- 8). Dragons Through History By : Fran Black
The Dragon has played an important part in myths and religions since pre-historic times. The history of dragons goes back at least six thousand years, and there are dragon tales and legends from every continent except Antarctica. In almost every culture, and all throughout history, there are stories of these mythical and magical creatures called dragons.
|
- 9). Forcible Rape Defense; False Accusations in Relationship and Date Rape Cases By : William F. Nimmo
Forcible rape and attempted forcible rape between people who know each other, either casually or well, make up a sizeable percentage of the false accusations in the criminal justice system. The cry of rape or abuse is a familiar cry when a relationship goes sour or when a woman has second thoughts after a night of sex or near intimacy. While there are certainly legitimate claims of rape and attempted rape in the world, from the defendant’s perspective there are good reasons to view each claim with skepticism.
|
- 10). Criminal Defense Lawyers: Reducing Murder to Manslaughter By : William F. Nimmo
Reducing murder to manslaughter is a task that presents itself in many murder cases. Depending on your state or jurisdiction you may be able to reduce murder to manslaughter by eliminating the element of “malice.” Classically, this is where the defendant acts by being provoked into a sudden quarrel or into a state of mind known as the “heat of passion.
|
|
|