Exploring the Benefits and Drawbacks of Continuing Nursing Education

This report provides a detailed analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) for nursing professionals. It explores the impact of CNE on competency, knowledge, and attitude, highlighting how it helps nurses stay updated with the latest advancements in medical care, reflect on their practice, and effectively manage resources. The report also examines the relationship between CNE and professional certification, emphasizing its role in career development and skill advancement, while also acknowledging the potential drawbacks such as cost and the lack of guaranteed competence. Furthermore, it discusses the alignment of CNE with the ANA Scope and Standards of Practice and the ANA Code of Ethics, noting its contribution to improved patient care, ethical service delivery, and increased nurse confidence. The report concludes that mandatory CNE can enhance knowledge, improve patient outcomes, and increase job satisfaction, suggesting subsidies for nurses and increased healthcare staffing to support their continuing education. References to various studies and ANA guidelines are included to support the analysis.

PROS AND CONS OF
CONTINUING NURSING
EDUCATION (CNE)
Name of the student
Name of the university

Introduction
 The role of a nursing professional needs strong
academic foundation.
 Most nurses earn their graduate or advanced degrees
and certification examinations before encountering
their first patient.
 Most states have made continuing education
imperative for the nursing licensure renewal.
 These continuing nursing education (CNE) courses are
specifically designed for nursing professionals.
 It is aimed at informing the nursing fraternity with the
newest expansions in medical care.

Impact on competency, knowledge
and attitude
 It helps nurses to reflect on their practice and determine
their learning needs.
 It helps in effective search for necessary learning
resources.
 Keeps nurses updated and provides a sense of
accomplishment (Mareno & Hart, 2014).
 Facilitates effective management of resources, evidences,
and skills.
 Shortage of healthcare staff, time consuming process.
 Rapid changes in professional nursing knowledge.
 Underfunding of the higher educational organisations.

Impact on professional certification
 Promotes continuous learning that is imperative
for career development and skill advancement
of nurses.
 Enhances the ability of nurses to compete in
their professional domain.
 Describes the nursing practice and confirms to
unending qualifications (Lachance, 2014).
 Higher certification does not ensure nursing
competence.
 The process is expensive.

Relation to ANA Scope and
Standards of Practice
 Quality of patient care gets highly improved.
 Knowledge expansion helps in career advancement.
 Evidence based interventions are implemented in real-
time settings (ANA, 2015).
 Nurses often lack adequate knowledge on their
subjects.
 Difficulty in balancing balance between work and
personal life.
 Tuition costs are greater and there is no guarantee on
the role of CNE on assisting nurses in hospital settings.

Relation to ANA Code of Ethics
 Promotes patient safety and helps nurses become
competent, while delivering care services.
 Helps nurses gain more education to provide optimal
care services.
 Promotes delivery of equal and fair treatment for all
service users
 Builds confidence of nurses (ANA, 2015).
 Requires excess time commitment for both
professional and personal development.
 Financial resources required in career advancement
and while gaining competency.

Conclusion
 Mandatory CNE will help in increasing knowledge on novel medical
breakthrough, healthcare threats and innovations.
 Enhanced patient outcomes will also increase job satisfaction and help
in fulfilment of nursing duties.
 Nurses should be provided subsidies for CNE.
 More healthcare workers must be hired to help nurses effectively
manage their time, while continuing their education.

References
American Nurses Association. (2015). Code of Ethics. Retrieved from http://
nursing.rutgers.edu/civility/ANA-Code-of-Ethics-for-Nurses.pdf
American Nurses Association. (2015). Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice (3rd ed.). Retrieved from
https://www.iupuc.edu/nursing/files/Nursing-ScopeStandards-3E.pdf
Eslamian, J., Moeini, M., & Soleimani, M. (2015). Challenges in nursing continuing education: A qualitative
study. Iranian journal of nursing and midwifery research, 20(3), 378.
Lachance, C. (2014). Nursing journal clubs: A literature review on the effective teaching strategy for
continuing education and evidence-based practice. The Journal of Continuing Education in
Nursing, 45(12), 559-565.
Mareno, N., & Hart, P. L. (2014). Cultural competency among nurses with undergraduate and graduate
degrees: implications for nursing education. Nursing Education Perspectives, 35(2), 83-88.
Ni, C., Hua, Y., Shao, P., Wallen, G. R., Xu, S., & Li, L. (2014). Continuing education among Chinese nurses: A
general hospital-based study. Nurse education today, 34(4), 592-597.

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