September: Back to School!

It’s the time of year for freshly sharpened pencils, unstained bookbags, blank copy books (I am dating myself), and the heady anticipation of fresh starts. Don’t let your children be the only ones advancing their education and embarking on new beginnings. Practicing nurses (the bulk of our readership) continue learning all of their professional lives through a combination of experience, continuing education (CE), and advancing degrees. Unless you practice in any of the 10 states with no CE requirement for licensure (Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, South Dakota, Wisconsin; Maryland requires a refresher course and Vermont asks for proof of active practice), nurses need to earn CE hours per their states’ rules, which also may include demonstrating minimum practice hours and completion of courses on substance abuse, organ donation, pain and symptom management, child/dependent adult abuse, ethics, and veteran-related issues and pharmacology/prescribing for clinicians with relevant degrees/certifications. Employers also may demand practitioners in specific practice areas (eg, critical care, neonatal) take CE courses beyond what is required by the state. State requirements are described at: https://nurse.org/resources/continuing-education.

Only CE units earned through a provider accredited with the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) (www.nursingworld.org/ancc) count toward the required hours; the ANCC also provides information on earning certification in specific practice areas. Nursing graduates looking to practice in a specific wound-related specialty might consider becoming a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP-BC) or adult/gerontology acute care nurse (AGACNP-BC). The American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the Commission on Nurse Certification (www.aacnnursing.org/CNL-Certification) can direct you to schools and events at which you can earn CE credits appropriate to your interest and practice and/or advance your degree. According to the AACN, approximately 56% of nurses have a BSN or higher degree, but 88% of employers require or strongly prefer hiring nurses with a baccalaureate degree. 

Practitioners seeking to earn CE credits have numerous accessible platforms and venues, many of which are online publications and resources, including on-demand webcasts. These opportunities allow you to read an article or watch a video at your convenience and complete a test at the end of the activity for credit. Typically, 1 credit is earned (the activity is designed to take approximately 1 hour to complete) at a time, and the activity often is industry-supported. Several are available from the education arm of our parent company, HMP: www.naccme.com.

Regional live events also bring education closer to home. For example, HMP’s 2-day Wound Certification Prep Course offers up to 17 CE credits professionals can earn while readying for wound certification board exams (certified wound care associate [CWCA], certified wound specialist [CWS], certified wound specialist physician [CWSP]): www.woundprepcourse.com.

Clinicians seeking to earn CE credits often will tell you total immersion into a symposium or conference is the best way to satisfy a huge chunk of CE requirements. Live major events offer the depth, variety, and interaction that facilitate learning by instruction, product and practice demonstrations, and networking with peers. HMP’s Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC) Fall (being held October 12–14, 2019, in Las Vegas, NV, with 30 CE units offered) and the SAWC Spring/Wound Healing Society meeting (locations vary. The next is scheduled for May 13–17, 2020, in San Diego, CA; more than 30 CE credits are available) feature cutting-edge topics presented in sessions by the most dynamic and influential educators in wound healing and prevention. Many of the presenters are authors of articles that appear in Wound Management & Prevention, allowing them to delve deeper into their topic and give attendees the chance to ask, first-hand, important questions related to individual patients and situations: www.sawc.net. 

In addition, SAWC Spring features the Post-Acute Care Symposium, offering up to 12 CE credits for nurses seeking to add to their armamentarium of tools needed to implement clinical practice guidelines, protocols, and care pathways for wound and incontinence interventions (www.pacsymposium.com). SAWC Fall offers a track of sessions on similar topics.

All HMP wound care resources were recently assembled into the Wound Care Learning Network, an umbrella website that among other news and information (eg, links to journals and previous SAWC sessions) features numerous CE options (register for live events or partake online). Review these valuable resources at www.woundcarelearningnetwork.com. 

CE not only adds to your knowledge, keeps you in the protocol and product development mainstream, and helps ensure you are providing patients the most current evidence-based care, but it also can increase your earning potential. Plus, some employers (eg, health care institutions and large hospitals) may help subsidize your educational pursuits. Put your kids on the school bus and explore the many CE opportunities to renew your license; HMP is an accredited provider. To quote a popular television commercial, It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

The opinions and statements expressed herein are specific to the respective authors and not necessarily those of Wound Management & Prevention or HMP. This article was not subject to the Wound Management & Prevention peer-review process.