Nurse Practitioner Continuing Education
All nurses know the importance of keeping their certification current and their license up –to-date. Nurse practitioner continuing education courses are designed to help the nurse practitioner maintain the continuing education units (CEU’s) necessary to renew their license when the time comes each year to do so.
Every nurse is required to take continuing education courses during their career and so it is important to know how to find these courses and what courses can be used for continuing education credits.
Types of Nurse Practitioner Continuing Education Courses
There are many different ways for nurse practitioners to earn continuing education credits, which makes it easier to get the credits needed to remain certified. The main methods of earning CEUs include:
- Online Nurse Classes: These are courses that are available on the Internet that provide CEUs to help nurses meet their requirements for recertification. You can find many different topics, from new medical trends and techniques to advanced nursing.
- Traditional Campus Based Classes: If you prefer to attend a traditional classroom, you can check with your local colleges and find out what classes they offer for continuing education credits. You should make sure the classes will fulfill the nurse practitioner continuing education requirements before you invest your time and money in the class,
- Lunch and Learn or Employer-Offered Courses: There are many education offerings that can be found through your employer. These are what some people call lunch and learns or seminars that the employer brings in for advancing their employees knowledge. The added benefit is that many of these types of courses qualify as CEUs and go toward fulfilling your objective.
These are the three main types of continuing education classes that you can use to get your educational requirements met before time for your recertification. The next thing you need to know is how to find courses that meet those requirements.
Finding Continuing Education Courses for the Nurse Practitioner
Before you can decide which classes you want to take you have to know what is offered and where you can find the classes. In order to find classes that meet the required criteria for being used as a continuing education class you should utilize the following resources:
- AANP CE Center: The American Association of Nurse Practitioners Continuing Education Portal provides you with information regarding many continuing education opportunities that are available online with online testing and certification once the testing is complete.
- CE Calendar: This is a comprehensive calendar of educational opportunities for continuing education credits. These courses are listed by location and date and shows courses that are approved by the AANP.
- Independent Continuing Education Opportunities: This listing is also approved by the AANP and includes a variety of learning options including online, self-study through publications, CDs, DVDs and more.
- NPACE: The Nurse Practitioner Associates for Continuing Education provides nurse practitioners with information on live conferences and seminars that provide education opportunities for nurse practitioners and other nursing professionals who require CEUs.
This is by no means a comprehensive listing of the resources available to nurse practitioners to help them get their continuing education requirements completed annually.
Types of Courses you can take for Continuing Education
There are many different subjects you can choose when you are searching for classes to fulfill your education requirements. You can choose those that will help you advance your career as you continue further in your education goals or choose the ones that interest you the most and are related to your current field of nursing. Some of the classes you may encounter include:
- New Treatment Options for Various Diseases: You can find many different continuing education classes that are focused on treatment options for specific diseases, such as new ways to treat diabetes or HIV.
- High blood pressure, Asthma or other Specific Conditions: If you work in a specialty field or area of the hospital you may find it beneficial to choose CE courses that pertain to ailments you deal with on a daily basis, such as arthritis, depression and much more.
- Field Specialties: If you work in a specialized area of the hospital or a specialized doctor’s office, you may find it beneficial to choose CE courses in that area, such as geriatrics or pediatrics.
You don’t have to choose courses that you aren’t interested in just to meet your required CE units. You can and should choose classes and seminars that interest you and will benefit your career.
Nurse practitioner continuing education is a requirement of being a nurse that you need to stay aware of and make sure you are prepared for before time for you to renew your license. You can utilize many different resources and class types to get your CEUs and stay abreast of the latest news in your field of nursing.
