CEUs for Nurses
Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) and Registered Nurses (RNs) must take continuing education courses in order to maintain their licensure with their applicable state licensing board. A continuing education unit (CEU) is given as a measure of time that the LPN or RN devotes to continuing their knowledge in the field.
In order to renew their license, an LPN or RN must have accumulated a certain number of CEUs in the period since they last renewed or received their license. The purpose of CEUs is to ensure that nurses are continuing to expand their knowledge base and not simply just renewing their license year after year without keeping up to date on the new issues in the field and with their patients.
LPNs and RNs who attend classes, either in the classroom or on-line through internet providers, will receive CEUs. They will generally be required to take a short test after the course material is presented in order to show that they truly understood and can apply the material to their patients.
The courses that a particular nurse chooses may be directed by the type of work that they do. For example, a clinic nurse may take different courses than a hospital nurse or a hospice nurse may take different courses than an OB/GYN nurse.
A Hospice nurse might look into courses such as
- Caring for the terminally ill
- Alzheimer’s Disease
- Death and Dying
- Palliative Care
- Aging and Long Term Care Issues
Whereas, an OB/GYN nurse might look for courses in:
- Childbirth techniques
- Adoption and childbirth
- Pain management during labor and delivery
- Relaxation and stress reduction techniques
- Breastfeeding techniques and issues
In addition to specific practice areas, LPNs and RNs might also take courses that are more generalized and that deal with issues that could affect any patients or any type of nursing situation or are areas that are considered important topics by the mandating state agency.
These could include courses such as:
- Legal and Ethical issues in Nursing
- Reporting Issues
- Paperwork procedures and requirements
- Organizational skills
- Hygiene Issues
- Dealing with difficult patients
- Effective verbal and written communication skills
- HIV Safety
- Bioterrorism
- Domestic Abuse
- Colds and Influenza
- Infectious Diseases
- LGBT Issues
- Pain management and special populations
- Cultural/ethnic group differences in thoughts about medicine
- Religious and spirituality courses
The purpose and goal of requiring CEUs for LPN and RNs is to continue to offer strong nursing skills and medical knowledge to patients of all ages. These courses are a way for nurses at any level to gain further experience in the issues that their patients deal with and to find ways to assist those patients in achieving and maintaining healthy lifestyles.