Nursing on-line for continuing education credit

BACKGROUND: The Internet was evaluated as a source of continuing education credit for RNs. METHOD: Using the search engines Alta Vista, Excite, Magellan, and Infoseek, 600 World Wide Web sites were reviewed for on-line programs that would lead to the receipt of a continuing education (CE) certificate of completion for a varying number of CE hours. RESULTS: Five sites provided CE programs online and one site used e-mail to deliver the program to personal computers. All sites offered certificates and were approved to offer continuing nursing education credit through a state board of nursing or through the agency sponsoring the Internet site. The CE hours were also approved by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate the Internet is a source of CE units (hours) for nurses that may be used to satisfy requirements of state boards of nursing. The sites are easily accessible and eliminate travel and great expenses. The Internet is a rich source of current health-related information not approved for CE units but pertinent to health care professionals.     

Modest beginnings in continuing education for psychologists.

Responds to N. F. Jones (1975), noting that it is encouraging to see that continuing education (CE) is beginning to be requested for certificate renewal. CE will have to be given a broader definition to ensure success. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

AOA continuing medical education

The effects of roxithromycin, a macrolide antibiotic, on neutrophil activities were investigated in six seriously handicapped patients with severe mental retardation. Neutrophil activities were evaluated by flow cytometry using a heparinized blood analysis method. All six patients showed decreased levels of neutrophil phagocytosis, intracellular killing, and CD11b expression. Treatment with roxithromycin in vitro selectively restored the decreased phagocytic and bactericidal activities of neutrophils in these patients. There was no significant restorative effect with cefaclor, ofloxacin, or aztreonam. These results suggest the need to consider therapeutic effects of antibiotics on neutrophil functions in patients at increased risk for bacterial infections due to decreased neutrophil activities.     

Multiple choice questions for continuing education in family medicine

Multiple choice questions used in continuing medical education may require characteristics different from those used in tests and examinations. The questions of three continuing education exercise were assessed by 48 board certified family physicians. Each physician answered one third of the questions and then judged them on usefulness in patient management, as discriminators of quality of medical care, and on educational value. The relevance of each question was determined by a composite index based on these factors. The content of each question was independently analyzed by three physicians. Relevant questions tended to be those concerned with surgery, symptoms, and management, and those requiring more than simple factual recall. Questions on office management or concerning specific diagnoses were considered less relevant. Neither the manner of asking the question nor the severity of the illness appeared to influence relevance. This information should benefit those developing continuing education programs for family physicians, especially those designed for self-administered individual learning.     

Satellite-delivered continuing medical education in Europe

There is increasing recognition of the need for continuing medical education in the medical profession. There are now many ways of delivering medical education including conferences, books, journals amongst others. This paper describes a novel method of delivering medical education using satellite transmission. This medium allows live medical education programmes to be broadcast to over 150 receiver sites in Europe. It also enables two-way live satellite links to be made between countries during the broadcast. EuroTransMed has an editorial board, in much the same way as a journal, which is representative of the differing medical societies in Europe. As the barriers between the various countries fall, EuroTransMed is an ideal medium to promote high quality, easily accessible, continuing medical education at a pan-European level.     

Sustained and sustaining continuing education for therapists.

Thirty-eight therapists who completed a 2-year continuing education program evaluated the effect of that program on how they conducted therapy and on themselves as individuals. The program differed from most continuing education offerings both in its ongoing nature and its emphasis on an interactive and dynamic use of material rather than on a purely didactic presentation. Participants described changes that they felt improved the quality of the therapeutic alliance, increased their ability to work effectively with difficult patients, and increased their self-awareness. This evaluation of the experience of a mature (over 10 years in operation) program is significant at a point when American Psychological Association (APA) is considering a broader conceptualization of continuing education models. These results also illustrate the importance of thoroughly evaluating the effect of continuing education. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nurses' experiences of continuing education

This article outlines some of the main findings from a survey into the experiences of nurses with continuing professional education following the introduction of the UKCC's standards for post registration education and practice (PREP). This survey was conducted jointly by the Queen's Nursing Institute and Nursing Times.     

Evaluation of HIV-related continuing education programs for established physicians

Neither the HIV-specialists, the cooperating specialists, nor the family physicians are required to have special qualifications to treat HIV-infected patients. CME-courses don't consider the very different fields of interest of the participants or that the transfer of knowledge is quite important to ensure the quality of medical care. Questionnaires regarding HIV related topics were distributed in nine HIV-CME courses (9/93-5/94) of the DAGNA (German association of panel physicians treating HIV-infected patients) in cooperation with the society of physicians of Germany and the association of public health insurances. The satisfaction of the participants, the topics with regard to their relevance for the task group, the importance for the daily routine, and didactic manners were investigated. Feed-back: 41%. Although the general impression of most participants was "quite satisfying" (87%) there was some critic regarding special aspects. The rating of the courses depended on the level of qualification. Specialists in internal medicine rated the relevance for their medical practice, the topics and the possibility of contribution more positive than other specialists or general practitioners (GP). In general, there was a great difference regarding the rating of the courses among the participants because of their individual level of qualification and knowledge. In order to take the different levels of qualification and demands for topics into account there must be graduated courses: specialists, experts, elementary and beginner courses. The basic courses should contain not only the lectures but also the possibility of an active contribution of the participants. Adequate guidelines have to be developed.     

Role assignment and continuing education for college graduate nurses

The levels of alpha-granule membrane protein (GMP-140) on the surface of platelet and serum TXB2 were determined in 55 patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and 20 healthy individuals before and after exercise test. Among the 55 CHD patients, 36 had positive and 19 had negative results. The number of GMP-140 molecules on the platelet surface and serum TXB2 level were significantly increased in the patients with positive exercise test, P < 0.05. The increase was transient and GMP-140 returned to the preexercise level 15 minutes after the exercise test. In contrast, GMP-140 and TXB2 levels were not elevated in CHD patients with negative exercise test and also in normal subjects after exercise. The result indicates that platelet activation may be related to the exercise-induced myocardial ischemia in CHD patients.     

National priorities for the continuing education of psychologists.

Discusses 4 principles for the development of continuing education programs: (a) program planning based on psychology manpower and educational resources; (b) development of leadership experts in continuing education; (c) high-priority content areas, e.g., alcohol and drug abuses; and (d) research in basic and applied fields, e.g., learning and communications. Interdisciplinary and interorganizational exchange of knowledge and techniques is stressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A research project as a means for continuing education

A project designed to encourage general practitioners to provide care in the earliest phases of coronary heart disease is reported from South Africa. A total of 129 general practitioners were actively involved and over 3,000 practitioners showed interest and attended at least one meeting.