Kiscadden 1

Continuing Education for Nurses

Our textbook defines mandatory continuing education (CE) as “the mechanism through

which a regulatory agency ensures that nurses remain current in their profession,” (Black, 2020).

I believe that CE is an important factor to providing patients with the best possible care. The

healthcare field is constantly evolving with new treatments and interventions to better care for

patients. Requiring nurses to attend mandatory seminars or further education courses, ensures

that nurses are gaining the knowledge and skills to add to their own clinical expertise, which in

turn enhances patient care.

According to Mlambo et al., nurses believe there are many benefits associated with

continuing their education. They believe that it enhances patient care by improving their own

professional knowledge and skills through improved care standards as well as communication

and collaboration with their coworkers. Continuing education is also believed to increase the

likelihood to progress in their careers (Mlambo et al., 2021).

While continuing education is certainly very important, there are a few drawbacks from a

nurse’s perspective. The major concern of most nurses would be the cost or lack of funding.

While most institutions pay for this, not all do, so it may be coming out of the nurses’ pockets.

Tuition reimbursement is popular, but nurses still must come up with the cost up front. Some

other drawbacks include heavy workloads, lack of study time, and an unsupportive organization

(Mlambo et al., 2021).

Black, B. P. (2020). Professional nursing: Concepts & challenges. Elsevier.

Mlambo, M., Silén, C., & McGrath, C. (2021). Lifelong learning and nurses’ continuing

professional development, a metasynthesis of the literature. BMC Nursing, 20(1).

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-021-00579-2