RN Continuing Education Courses

In order for an RN to keep his or her license current, it is necessary to get a certain amount of RN continuing education hours completed each year. There are a large number of different courses on different subjects that can count toward RN CE requirements.

This includes courses you do online or through home study as well as college courses, as long as they are of a sufficiently advanced level and a topic relevant to patient care. You can find out which types of courses are acceptable from your state board of nursing.

These usually include courses where you gain scientific knowledge or learn nursing skills at a level above that of what was required for licensure. Courses that teach conversational foreign language skills are also acceptable, as are courses on nursing management skills.

There are over 100 courses available, and gives instant certification once you have completed the course. Courses are available in the areas of acute care, allied health, assessment, bioterrorism, cardiac care, critical and emergency care, critical thinking, domestic violence, gerontology, infectious disease, maternal and child and women's health, medical safety and administration, operating room, pediatrics, board of nursing required courses, and risk management.

Online RN continuing education courses are in the categories of General Nursing, Medical Surgical Nursing, Neuro Nursing, Trauma Nursing, Managers; Supervisors Nursing, Board of Nursing Required Courses, Critical Care, Pediatric Nursing, Cardiac Nursing, Neonatal nursing, and Nursing Professional Development.

You can browse by state requirements (for Florida, Kentucky, and Texas), specialty certification, clinical topics, journal, or the media that the course is offered in. Online schools have a large number of courses to choose from, much larger than the other websites that are listed above. You can choose to take courses one at a time or pay approximately to take as many courses as you like.

Although many different types of courses are acceptable and able to count towards RN continuing education requirements, there are some types of courses that are not acceptable. Some of the types of courses that are not acceptable include courses that are meant for lay people, liberal arts courses, self improvement courses, and courses that involve teaching you about financial gain. Orientation programs are also not considered acceptable.