Continuing Education Units
The issue of mandatory continuing education units (CEUs) for nurses is controversial. Critics of CUEs argue that they are time consuming and they have no impact on practice. In my opinion though, CEUs are important because they promote patient safety and help to keep nurses up-to- date. These pros and cons of CEUs will be explored below.
The health care field is dynamic and characterized by ever increasing medical and technological innovations, emerging diseases, new medical breakthroughs, changes in patient care modalities and policies governing health care, medical, and nursing practice. For nurses to remain competent, therefore, they need to keep abreast with changes and innovations in health care.
CEUs help to improve patient safety and safeguard patient well-being. For instance, the CEU by Wild Iris Medical Education Inc (2011) on preventable medical errors provides useful insights on the types, causes and risk factors for medical errors, vulnerable populations, prevention strategies for preventable adverse events, elements of root cause analysis, and medical error reporting requirements in the state of Florida. The contents of the article may seem like common knowledge to some, the scope of the problem of adverse events in the country though indicates otherwise.
It is appreciable that knowledge alone does not translate into improved practice and hence CEUs may not translate into the intended goals. It is noteworthy though that CEUs heighten awareness of gaps in current practice and provide insights into how the issues can be addressed. Increased awareness of practice issues may motivate individual nurses to implement changes at the individual, team, unit, and organization level.
Lack of time is often cited as a barrier to undertaking CEUs. It is appreciable that nurses may experience time limitations considering that they have to juggle work and family responsibilities. However, the magnitude and consequences of medical errors as well as the dynamic nature of medical knowledge dictates that they partake in continuing education sessions so that they can provide competent and relevant care.
In conclusion, mandatory CEUs are important for nurses and they should continue to form part of relicensing requirements. This is because they help to enhance the knowledge and skills of nurses and in effect, promote patient safety.
References
Wild Iris Medical Education Inc (2011). Prevention of medical errors for Florida healthcare professionals. Retrieved from http://www.nursingceu.com/courses/390/index_nceu.html.
