Does this sound familiar? Notice arrives that your CCHP or CCHP-RN certification or your nursing license renewal is due next month. Plenty of time to get the required continuing education hours (CEs), right? The notice is set aside (if you are like me it gets printed and set on the pile on the right side of my desk) and the next time the paper shows up, submission is due tomorrow! So, just in case this might happen to you (I’m sure it won’t, but just in case) here is my list of three excellent sources of correctional nursing continuing education that you can access online and complete immediately. First, though, is a clarification of requirements.

License Renewal

States vary as to the number of contact hours needed for an annual or biannual licensure period. Most states ask the licensee to maintain the official documentation (CE certificates) and attest to having completed the required number of hours. Documentation may be requested in a random audit of licensees.

Some states have specific content requirements as part of the total CE needed. For example, Florida RNs are required to complete 24 hours of appropriate continuing education (CE) during each renewal period, including two (2) hours relating to prevention of medical errors. In addition to these 24 hours of general CE hours, each RN must complete two (2) hours of domestic violence CE every third renewal for a total of 26 hours.

Here is a handy list of current State Nursing Board Continuing Education requirements for relicensure from Nurse.com:

Nursing Continuing Education Requirements by State

CCHP and CCHP-RN Recertification

CCHP and CCHP-RN certifications have yearly CE requirements.

CCHP CE Recertification Requirements: Participation in 18 hours of continuing education (at least six of which are specific to correctional health care).

CCHP-RN Recertification Requirements: Completion of at least 18 nursing contact hours, with six specific to correctional health care.

Correctional Healthcare Conferences

If you have a great benefits package at work that includes an education allowance, try to attend a National Commission on Correctional Health Care conference or an American Correctional Association conference. You won’t regret it. However, that won’t help you for a fast-approaching due date. This requires the ability to take the class and get a certificate of completion immediately upon successful completion.  Most often, this requires achieving a passing grade on a written exam. Here are three go-to places for correctional nursing online Continuing Education hours.

Sources of Correctional Nursing Continuing Education

The Correctional Nurse Educator

Our sister site, The Correctional Nurse Educator, has been providing accredited, online continuing education classes for the correctional nurse since 2009.  We now offer over fifty classes in clinical and nursing practice issues that are specialized for the correctional nurse.   Topics include chronic care diseases like Diabetes, Hypertension, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Asthma; Suicide Prevention; Excited Delirium; Women’s Health Issues; Anticoagulation; Homeostasis and Electrolytes; Red Eye, Sexually Transmitted Infection; Hepatits; Common Skin Conditions; Sprains and Strains; Clinical Judgment; Bullying and Incivility; and many, many more.  We typically add new classes every month or so, and we have developed classes based upon our students’ requests.  Classes can be taken as individuals, or as part of a group contract.  

Pedagogy Correctional Health Care Campus

Lorry Schoenly, our co-author here at CorrectionalNurse.Net, has written a few classes for Pedagogy, including Correctional Health Care Processes and Safety in the Correctional Setting.  

Correctional Health Nursing CE at Nurse.com

Selections here include Legal Origins and Issues Behind Correctional Nursing; Psychiatric Nursing in the Correctional Setting and Control and Management of Infectious Diseases in the Correctional Setting.  

That’s it for my quick list of correctional healthcare continuing education. Do you have a favorite online resource that I missed? Share your secrets in the comments section of this post.