Why Continuing Education Is Important for Nurses & Doctors

To stay on top of the finer points of any skill set, you must get a refresher every now and then. In no professions is this more important than in medicine and nursing. Why? Doctors and nurses need to be able to provide the most up-to-date medical and nursing care to their patients to get the best patient outcomes; they also need to learn about changes in law that affect their profession. This further learning is accomplished through continuing education. Not only is continuing education a requirement to maintain state licensure for both doctors and nurses, it also helps keep these key health care personnel sharp in their health care knowledge. Examples of continuing education subjects are: medical ethics, diversity, end-of-life care and patient privacy.

The Advantage of Taking Online Classes

Online classes are helpful for nurses and doctors because they provide formal and informal continuing education training of the same quality as traditional classes, only they do not require you to travel to a college campus to get it. Anyone who has worked in these professions knows that doctors and nurses have some of the most irregular schedules possible. Nurses often work nights for several weeks and days for several weeks, or a mixture of the two. Doctors and surgeons are often on-call 24/7 on certain days and some are still known to make house calls at all hours of the night. Who has time to attend rigidly scheduled classes? Online courses are generally more flexible for these busy health care practitioners, letting them log in to their courses from any location from a computer or laptop.

How Free Online Classes Can Supplement Your Career

Some of the top universities in the country—including Johns Hopkins University, the University of California at Berkeley and MIT—are offering Open CourseWare, free higher education resources offering students excellent content that can further their career knowledge in medicine and nursing. While the material for these courses is prepared by some of the brightest minds in the nation, they are offered by many universities absolutely free of charge. And just because it’s free doesn’t mean the content is watered down. Some of the free courses offered include: Fundamentals of Oncology for Public Health Practitioners; Musculoskeletal Pathophysiology; and Utilization of Nursing Research in Advanced Practice.

• Professional Issues in Nursing: This RN-BS course is for nurses who need extra practice developing their college-level reading, writing and critical thinking skills. [UMass Boston]
• Nursing Fundamentals: Get the basics in nursing care, including taking vital signs, communicating with patients, and nutrition. [Kaplan]
• Introduction to Human Nutrition: This course features podcasts and lectures about carbohydrates, lipids, digestion, food safety, sports nutrition and more. [UC Berkeley]
• Health Assessment and Promotion: Learn how to assess patients so that you can detect diseases and conditions that can be treated early. You’ll also practice using appropriate interview skills, technology systems, and lab equipment. [UMass Boston]
• Principles of Human Disease: Learn about the fundamentals of genetic human diseases and cancerous diseases. [MIT]
• Parkinson’s Disease Workshop: Take this workshop if you want to learn about the different ways Parkinson’s Disease affects the body. [MIT]
• Biology of Water and Health: Topics covered here include water sanitation and the role that water plays in good health. [Tufts]
• Fundamentals of Oncology for Public Health Practitioners: This public health course is designed to help you identify different types of cancers and their treatment options. [Johns Hopkins]
• The Radical Consequences of Respiration: Reactive Oxygen Species in Aging and Disease: Explore different treatment options for optimum respiration, as well as the effects of different diseases and conditions on breathing. [MIT]
• Human Growth and Development: Get the fundamentals of human growth, including the onset of disease, development of mental processes, and how different disabilities develop. [Tufts]
• Utilization of Nursing Research in Advanced Practice: Take this course to learn how to collect and evaluate evidence for your research. [University of Michigan]
• Critical Analysis of Popular Diets and Dietary Supplements: Help patients learn about the myths and truths to popular diets and nutrition fads after taking this course. [Johns Hopkins]
• Cardiovascular/Respiratory: In this course, you will learn how to solve various cardiovascular/respiratory problems. [University of Michigan]
• Stress Management: You’ll better be able to help patients deal with and treat stress after taking this course. [Weber State]
• Introduction to Clinical Pain Problems: Find out how to identify and treat pain problems. [Tufts]
• The life sciences industry: an introduction: Get an introduction into the processes, policies and responsibilities of the life sciences industry. [The Open University]
• The autistic spectrum: from theory to practice: Lessons here tackle living with autism, diagnosing autism, history of the disease, and different sub-types and sub-groups of autism. [The Open University]
• Active, healthy lifestyles: Take this course so that you can encourage your patients to be more active. [The Open University]
• Food Production, Public Health, and the Environment: Here you will learn about the relationship between food production systems, population, economics and health. [Johns Hopkins]
• Literary Texts and Moral Issues in Medicine: This literature course can be valuable for doctors and nurses wanting to analyze medical ethics. You’ll read short works by Chekhov, Virginia Woolf and Tolstoy. [MIT]
• Cancer Biology: From Basic Research to the Clinic: Discover how tumors are formed in this advanced seminar. [MIT]
• Acoustics of Speech and Hearing: Take this class to study how the human ear receives sound, as well as the acoustics of speech. [MIT]
• Medical Artificial Intelligence: Discover how technology systems can aid doctors and nurses in diagnosing, organization, treatment options, and more. [MIT]
• A Love-Hate Relationship: Cholesterol in Health and Disease: Find out exactly how cholesterol affects the body and can lead to disease. [MIT]
• International Nutrition: Here you will learn about the challenges that different countries — particularly under-developed nations — face nutritionally. [Johns Hopkins]
• Neuropharmacology: This fascinating course will help you understand how the brain reacts to drugs and medicine. [MIT]
• Muscoskeletal Pathophysiology: Get an overview of bone and joint development and structure. [MIT]
• Quantitative Physiology: Explore the different ways that the body’s systems and organs are connected, and how energy passes through the body. [MIT]
• Medicine and health: NCETMB test: Here you will find a practice test for the National Certification for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, [Qedoc]
• Genomics, Computing, Economics and Society: Learn how technology and genetics play a role in modern health care and society. [MIT]
• A Clinical Approach to the Human Brain: This course explores brain function and brain processes from a clinical standpoint. [MIT]
• Birth of a drug: Learn about the business, research and medical contributions to new drugs. [The Open University]
• Medicine and Public Health in American History: This survey course explores the different trends and reputations of the American medical industry. [Notre Dame]
• Global Tobacco Control: Find out what’s being done at the international level to curb tobacco use and addiction. [Johns Hopkins]
• Social and Economic Aspects of Human Fertility: Study the different aspects that may affect fertility. [Johns Hopkins]
• Issues in complementary and alternative medicine: Study the major issues and trends in alternative healing, including health beliefs, therapeutic relationships, and more. [The Open University]
• Confronting the Burden of Injuries: Find out how to quickly evaluate and treat a variety of injuries. [Johns Hopkins]
• Health Education Course: Lessons here cover healthy schools, child psychological health, and first aid. [Connexions]
• Endocrine Sequence: Study thyroid disorders, diabetes and similar topics here. [University of Michigan]
• Family Planning Policies and Programs: Discover how family planning programs in developing nations and communities are organized. [Johns Hopkins]
• Principles and Practice of Tissue Engineering: Learn about tissue regeneration here. [MIT]
• Population Medicine: Find out how to consider the health of the greater population when treating your own patients. [Tufts]
• Unraveling the mystery of health: Here you will dissect the health care industry and people’s views on health and health care. [The Open University]
• STI Prevention: Nurses and doctors can better advise their patients on safe sex and STIs after taking this course. [Johns Hopkins]
• Immunology Sequence: Study different immune system responses here. [University of Michigan]
• Avoiding Genomic Instability: This course covers DNA replication and cancer. [MIT]
• Principles of Pharmacology: Here you will learn how the body processes and benefits (or is harmed by) pharmacologic agents. [MIT]
• Biomedical Optics: This course offers an overview of engineering and technology systems for imaging and biomedical optics, like microscopy. [MIT]
• Study of Cells, Tissues and Organs: Study the purposes and processes of cells, tissues and organs. [Tufts]