subject: Continuing Education for Nurses [print this page] All CEU"S nurses must keep their licenses up to date by participating in continuing nursing education classes. Each state has different requirements for how many hours of continuing education you need to complete. For example, California requires that you're complete thirty hours of CEU's every two years where as Michigan requires that you complete a minimum of 25 hours. The good news is that continuing education courses for nurses are very easy to find. The hospital or medical center that you work for may offer some courses for free. You can find a tremendous amount of Nursing CEU's on the internet as well.
Continuing Education Credits or CEU's nurses are awarded based on the level of the material and the number of hours spent Many online continuing education classes for nursing are offered by universities, community colleges, trade schools, online colleges, and institutions. Just make sure that the offering institution is accredited by an organization that qualifies your license. The certification is valid for four years, and can be renewed either by passing another examination or by completing 100 continuing education units (CEUs) in the specialty. A licensed, Registered Nurse, who has demonstrated expertise in emergency nursing by passing a computer-administered examination given by the Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing (BCEN).
CEU"s nurses are trying to gain credit to save time on a future degree. In some fields, the CEU's are a requirement to keep certain types of credentials like a long term care administrator's license for the nurse who is heading into management; a business degree like an MBA can be quite an asset for career advancement into upper level management. Sometimes moving into a social work degree like an MSW is the right educational choices. The BCEN is a division of the Emergency Nurses' Association (ENA). The BCEN recommends (does not require) the exam candidate to have at least two years of experience in the practice of emergency nursing.
For the CEU"S nurse who desires to become and educator, adding a master's level education degree would be desirable. For these nurses, provides many seminars and workshops are available to enhance knowledge and talents already possessed by the nurse. Many hospitals have ongoing instruction for their nurses to keep them on top of the latest health care innovations. At the same time, these institutions try to hire the doctors who are committed to advancing medical excellence and knowledge as much as possible. This all works to keep the nurse completely current in technology, practice, and skills. Currently there are approximately 17,500 CENs.
As an American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), accredited provider of continuing nursing education (CNE), Gannett Education awards contact hours (an acceptable counterpart for CEUs) for eligible nursing education activities. In CNE, the contact hour is the only appropriate unit of educational credit offered by providers that are accredited or approved by ANCC, considered the gold standard for CNE. One CEU equals 10 contact hours of participation in organized continuing education under responsible, qualified direction and instruction.
