American Nurses Association: Continuing Education and Professional Development Activities

Kayla R Cooper

College of Nursing, University of Arizona

NURS 479: Transition to the Professional Nursing Role

Dr. Parmar

April 5th, 2023

American Nurses Association (ANA): Continuing Education and Professional Development

Activities

To begin, continuing education and professional development are essential to growth

within the nursing field. To simulate how this will be carried out in practice I completed the ANA

free continuing education modules. Since I completed these under the ANA student membership

all of the modules were free and in order to obtain eight credit hours I completed five different

modules. The modules I completed were: Asking and Advocating for What Nurses Need (1.5

hours), Environmental Infection Control: A Focus on High Touch Cleaning and Disinfection in

the Healthcare Setting (1 hour), Risk Associated with Non-sterile Glove Use (1 hour), See You

Know: Data – Technology Driven Care (4 hours), and The Concept of Infection Control (0.5

hours). All of these activities were combined for a total of eight continuing education hours. I

chose these modules for my professional development as the ANA has a reputable status in terms

of education and evidence-based policies. Additionally, the ANA allows students to create free

accounts and provides limited free professional development within this membership. Therefore,

I chose to take advantage of this opportunity and complete the requirements of this assignment

through this organization.

Experience and Knowledge Gained

As the professional development activities were completed I gained quite a variety of

experience and knowledge after completing five different modules of continuing education.

Three of the five modules were involved with infection control. My biggest takeaway from these

modules was the emphasis on truly wiping surfaces down such as mattresses or flat spaces where

medications are drawn up. Additionally, the importance of sterility and true sterile glove use in

procedures such as catheter and central line insertion. There was also a plethora of information
presented about the importance of environmental safety as it needs to be secure before efficient

patient care can be taken care of. The largest module I completed was the Technology Driven

Care module. Much of this content was based on HIPPA and patient safety when it comes to the

advanced technology we’re using in the clinical setting for data and record storage. The final

module I completed was largely focused on nurse safety and advocating for nurses’ needs such as

safe patient ratios, proper breaks, appropriate teams, and training.

Application to Future Nursing Practice

As I move into my practice within the next few months, I hope to become an ANA

member as well as a member of Sigma Theta Tau. In these organizations, there is ample

opportunity for professional development as well as continuing education. While the modules I

completed for this assignment were a little random, my professional development within my

career will be much more focused and based on actual issues I face within the clinical setting.

Therefore, with appropriate resources, I hope to continue completing professional development

to further my personal practice and clinical knowledge as a nurse.

Importance of Continuing Education in Nursing

After completing these activities as an exercise to practice and simulate professional

development, the importance and use of continuing education has become very apparent. After

finishing nursing school, while nurses continue to gain clinical experience, there may be some

disconnect with some of the evidence-based applications often reiterated throughout nursing

school. Therefore with professional development, nurses and other clinical staff members can

stay updated and informed on important topics in medicine and the latest and greatest of nursing.

Conclusion
 Overall, the concept of professional development is vital to a well-rounded and

competent nurse. Continually engaging in additional opportunities to learn new skills,

information, or practice techniques allows nurses to maintain their bedside skills as well as the

evidence-based practice behind the scenes. Professional development is privilege I hope to

continue using throughout my nursing career to improve my practice as a registered nurse.